Mendicant Samotrzeć,Friar w kompanii in Contact czywith z orszakiem? “Other” Religious SpołeczneVirtuosi aspekty podróżowania w średniowieczu i czasach nowożytnych, red. M. Saczyńska, E. Wółkiewicz, Warszawa 2012 Veronika Čapská Opawa Mendicant Friar in Contact with “Other” Religious Virtuosi: the Travel Writing of the Servite Angelikus Maria Müller (1677–1734)1 he travel writing of Angelikus Maria Müller entitled Peregrinus in Jerusalem is considered to be the longest pre-modern pilgrimage travel account with the provenance from the lands of the Bohemian Crown2. his account of a pilgrimage to the eastern Mediterranean was written in Prague by a friar of the Order of the Servants of Mary, the so-called Servites. For a long time hardly any scholarly attention has been paid to this five-volume opus which describes his journey from the Italian port of Livorno to Palestine, Constantinople, Egypt, Syria and back to Rome undertaken in the years 1725 to 17273. he lack of scholarly interest may have been conditioned by the fact that it was written in German and very little was previously known about the author. Over the past decade my interest in the self-representation of the Servite Order as an imagined community directed my attention to Angelikus Maria Müller and his travelogue4. he purpose of his article is published as a result of the Grant Project of the Czech Science Foundation No. 404/09/0127 “he Servites and the Recatholization Romance – he Self-Representation of a Religious Order in the Habsburg Monarchy (1610–1790).” I would like to thank Joseph Patrouch for his kind proofreading the manuscript of my article and providing helpful comments. 2 See T. Rataj, České země ve stínu půlměsíce. Obraz Turka v raně novověké literatuře z českých zemí [Lands of the Bohemian Crown in the Shadow of the Crescent. he Image of the Turk in Early Modern Czech Literature], Prag 2002, pp. 118, 138, 345. 3 However, the situation is gradually changing and there is another forthcoming study exploring the biblical frames of perception and representation in Müller’s travelogue. See L. Strachová, “Allein unter Türcken und Heiden”. Pilgerbericht von Angelicus Maria Myller: Systematisierung und biblische Alterität des islamischen Orients am Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts, in: Crossroads of Egyptology. he Worlds of Jaroslav Černý, edd. A.J. Macková, P. Onderka, Prague 2010, pp. 193–211 in press. 4 In the historical sources one can find various forms of the family name of Angelikus Müller: Myller, Müller as well as Miller. I have decided to use the modern spelling of the name “Müller”. 1 387 Veronika Čapská my article is to analyze and contextualize this multi-layered text as the means of Müller’s self-representation and to focus on Müller’s representations of other religious virtuosi he encountered in the course of his journey. I have borrowed the concept of “religious virtuosi” from the German sociologist Max Weber as it is particularly convenient for the use across the cultures5. he five-volume travel account was published twice in the course of the eighteenth century. he first edition was closely tied to the writing process and the volumes were gradually published in Prague between the years 1729 and 1732. he second edition was printed in Vienna in 1735. Both editions of the travelogue were richly decorated with copper engravings6. Careful inspection of the preserved volumes allows one to recognize that out of the series of over 30 graphics which were intended to accompany the travel writing of Angelikus Maria Müller there are two which rather inconspicuously also portray him. Depending on the specific exemplars the first of the two graphics typically functions as a frontispiece (see fig. 1). It portrays the Servite friar in front of the stylized map of the eastern Mediterranean – the target region of his travels. It also explicitly identifies the friar with a lettering: “Author”. Müller is depicted as sitting on a mule – his main means of transport in the Ottoman empire. In his travelogue Müller took pains to present a mule as a symbol of penitence, an appropriate animal for the pilgrimage in the Near East and especially in the Holy Land. Müller repeatedly stressed that it was forbidden to Christians by the Arabs to ride horses7. He clearly viewed riding a mule as an act of humility and penitence. He emphasised that as he was heading from Lebanon to Jerusalem for Easter with his caravan riding a mule without leather foot support for mounting and dismounting was a constant exercise in his form was used for instance in the Register of the Servite Friars. Cf. Archives of the Servite Friary in Vienna, Registrum omnium fratrum, nr. 19 (he Register is originally from the Archives of the Servite Friary in Innsbruck where it had the location mark L II 14). Every friar of the Germanic observance received the middle name Maria in honour of the Virgin Mary as the chief patron of the order. 5 Max Weber coined this concept for the use in comparative perspective. He conceived of religious virtuosi as religious specialists in a methodical and ascetic way of living. Cf. M. Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft: Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie, Tübingen 1980, pp. 327, 697. 6 he first volume of the Prague edition was printed by Johann Emler in 1729, the second one by Johann Wenzel Helm in 1730 and the third to fifth volumes were put to press by Mathias Höger in the archiepiscopal printing office between the years 1730 and 1732. he first three volumes were dedicated to the Prague archbishop Franz Anton von Khünburg who died in the midst of the publishing project, thus the last two volumes were dedicated to the auxiliary bishop of Prague, Johann Rudolph Sweerts, from the noble family of extraordinary Servite benefactors. he second edition was brought to light in the Viennese printing office of Peter Conrad Monath in 1735. 7 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem. Frembdling zu Jerusalem oder ausführlicher Reisbe­ schreibungen, Erste Buch, Prag 1729, p. 93; A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem. Frembdling zu Jerusalem oder ausführlicher Reisbeschreibungen, Drittes Buch, Prag 1730, p. 379. 388 Mendicant Friar in Contact with “Other” Religious Virtuosi Fig. 1. Frontispiece showing Angelikus M. Müller on a mule in front of the stylized map of the Eastern Mediterranean. (Angelikus M. Müller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem. Courtesy of the Moravian Library in Brno. Sign. ST 2 0005 861) patience8. he allusion to Christ’s ride to Jerusalem seems evident. Moreover, a mule was also considered to be a humble animal suitable for celibate clerics as it is incapable of breeding9. he second graphic takes us to the Syrian locality Qualat Samaan for which Müller uses the name Schebet Seman (see fig. 2). After a closer look it allows us to recognize a man in the habit of the Order of the Servants of Mary: a black A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, pp. 91–93. he symbolic meanings of a priest’s ride on a mule are addressed for instance in P. Burke, Sacred Rulers, Royal Priests: Rituals of the Early Modern Popes, in: he Historical Anthropology of Early Modern Italy. Essays on Perception and Communication, Cambridge 1989, p. 176. 8 9 389 Veronika Čapská Fig. 2. Engraving showing Angelikus M. Müller in the Syrian locality of Qualat Semaan connected with the life of St. Simon Stylites. Engraved by I. Fischer in Prague. (Angelikus M. Müller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem. Courtesy of the Moravian Library in Brno. Sign. ST 2 0161 285). tunic girded with a leather belt and covered by a black scapular and cowl. Qualat Samaan in Syria was traditionally associated with Saint Simon Stylites, the early Christian hermit that reputably lived on top of a pillar. Müller paid special attention to this location. He regarded his visit to this place as one of the climaxes of his two-year journey in the eastern Mediterranean. Although he was repeatedly discouraged from undertaking the way to Qualat Samaan by the leader of his caravan (the so-called „mucaro”), who emphasised the remoteness of the place and the danger of a possible attack from the Bedouins, the friar insisted on seeing the locality. He wrote he had been determined not to leave the city of Aleppo before he could realize his intention: “Ich wiedersetzte ihm aber was massen ich einmal fest resolvirt wäre ermeldtes Orth mit der Hülf Gottes zu sehen und zu verehren, auch ehender von Alepo nicht abzureisen bis sich nicht über kurz oder lang die Umstände günstig zu meinem Vorhaben erzeigen wurden.”10 10 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem. Frembdling zu Jerusalem oder ausführlicher Reisbeschrei­ bungen, Fünftes Buch, Prag 1732, p. 290. 390 Mendicant Friar in Contact with “Other” Religious Virtuosi When the caravan eventually set out from Aleppo to the port of Alexandreta and approached the Qualat Samaan, the mucaro did not consider it wise to separate from the caravan. Müller regarded the behaviour of the caravan guide as improper: “Ungeacht er seine Verbündnuss mit mir gar wohl wusste, so zeigte er doch wiederholter massen schlechten Lust sein Wort zu halten und mit mir von der gantzen Caravana abgesondert einem so beschwerlichen Berg zu besteigen.”11 Even when the mucaro consented to making this detour with the Servite friar, Müller later made special efort to depict the whole undertaking as an extremely difficult venture. Although the whole enterprise took only several hours and thus represented merely a brief episode during his two-year journey, Müller as a narrator constructed the short tour as the true pilgrimage connected with the constant overcoming of obstacles. He emphasised the rocky ground with holes and thorny bushes and the threat of snakes and even tigers and lions: “– – so, dass an diesem Orth kaum ein sicherer Tritt auf die Erden gesetzt kan werden indem man fast durchgehends über zusammengefallenes Gemauer und Steinhügel hinaufsteigen auch mannichesmal wohl zwey und drey Schritt weit von einem Stein zum andern springen muss damit man nicht in tiefe Löcher hinabfalle allwo nichts als Dörner und spitzige Hecken hervorwachsen; zu geschweigen, dass in diesen Löchern öfters grosse Heck-Natern, Tiegerthier und Löwen ihren Aufenthalt haben”12 Müller thus rhetorically and visually demonstrated his self-identification with the tradition of the ancient hermits. He wrote that he felt himself virtually entering the footsteps (“Fußstapfen”) of Saint Simon13. Müller belonged to the observant, eremitical branch of the mendicant order of the Servants of Mary which highly valued the ascetic, anchoritic style of life. he learned Servite traveller probably intended to share his experience with his fellow friars in the Habsburg monarchy, for whom the story would be very appealing. However, when he finally reached the place where the presumed spot of Saint Simon’s column was located, his worship was very short, as he writes, due to the lack of time. Nevertheless, there was enough time for him to do some brief research (“zu erforschen”) consisting of measuring the location where the pillar supposedly had stood. He tried to identify the type of stone in the locality and its hardness. Apart from subscribing to the conventions of a baroque pilgrimage, he was also firmly determined to enrich the “republic of letters”. His attitude to the Levant could be characterized as what he calls “fromme Curieusität” – pious 11 12 13 Ibidem p. 297. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Fünftes Buch, p. 298. Ibidem p. 299. 391 Veronika Čapská curiosity. Both the piety and curiosity function as the stimuli for Müller’s ventures; the devotion and inquisitiveness intersect and legitimise each other. In the course of his travel narrative Müller describes the apparel of the Catholic missionaries in the Levant consisting of a black robe, dark blue gown (“Unter-Rock”) and blue turban. He writes that he decided to bring it with himself from Cairo back home out of pious curiosity (“frommer Curieusität halber”)14. Such transmission of the empirical material appealing to Catholic tradition from the Levant to Europe, be it physical objects or the results of measurements, was one of the key features of his journey. he early modern Orientalism did not yet nourish colonial domination15, but it did nurture dreams and hopes, among which the dream about Jerusalem was still very vibrant. Not surprisingly, the very travel writing by Angelikus Maria Müller was checked by the Czech baroque historian of the crusades, the Jesuit Maxmilián Větrovský, before permission to print the travelogue was given. As a work of late baroque or pre-Enlightenment erudition Müller’s travel narrative contains large learned passages and it is heavily intertextual. he Servite friar acknowledges over 40 authorities and includes a survey of the heterodox Christian movements in the eastern Mediterranean and a survey of the Grandmasters of the Maltese Order. Although Müller wrote the longest pre-modern pilgrimage account which was composed in the lands of the Bohemian Crown, to date virtually nothing has been known about him. he provincial archive of the Bohemian province of the Servite Order was destroyed during the wave of closings of religious houses under Emperor Joseph II. in the 1780s. Müller’s travel writing survived due to its appearance in print. It is also highly probable that he was writing a diary during his journey which did not survive. Some of the latter chapters in his work bear revealing titles such as “Fortsetzung meines Diarii oder Tagbuchs zu Alexandria in Egypten or Fortsetzung meines Diarii in Malta”16. Moreover, the observant branch of the Servite Order to which Müller belonged had a special tradition of keeping diaries of individual religious houses. he Servite practice of writing institutional diaries was exceptional among mendicant orders. In most of them so-called “books of memorable things” (libri rerum memorabilium) were kept. Even in the Servite 14 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem. Frembdling zu Jerusalem oder ausführlicher Reisbeschrei­ bungen, Virtes Buch, Prag 1732, p. 9. 15 My article draws on Edward Said’s analysis of the relationship between knowledge and power in the Western representations of the Oriental Other. S.E. Said, Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient, London 1995. 16 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Virtes Buch, p. 10; A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jeru­ salem, Fünftes Buch, p. 368. 392 Mendicant Friar in Contact with “Other” Religious Virtuosi Order the tradition developed within the reform movement that emphasised the eremitical elements, increased the methodical conduct of life, and sharpened the concern for everyday discipline. he centre of the Servite observant movement was Monte Senario, the medieval cradle of the order situated near Florence. All of the Servite houses that were founded north of the Alps after 1613 followed the slightly mitigated observance of Monte Senario and formed the so-called Germanic observance. he priors of the friaries of the Germanic observance or their vicars were responsible for keeping diaries of their respective houses. he regular recording of the performed duties enabled a better control over the adherence to the observance. During the visitations the diaries were presented to the control of the superiors. Müller also underwent the experience of a prior connected with the writing of a religious house diary. his experience included the regular reservation of time for the writing of a diary. Although the institutional diary was rather formalized, it encouraged a sensibility towards the methodical observation of everyday life17. he elaborate culture of keeping diaries cultivated within the observant branch of the Servite Order gives a hint as to why Müller’s work ranks among the longest Central European travelogues. In the text of his travel account Müller occasionally mentions that he spent his spare time writing18. He even points out that whether he is at sea or on land he follows the Latin phrase nulla dies sine linea (“No day without a line”)19. Not only this remark, but Müller’s entire travel narrative can be regarded as skilful self-representation. he archival sources related to Angelikus Maria Müller and preserved in the archives of the Servite priory in Vienna and in the general archives of the order in Rome are scarce and provide rather elementary information about him. In contrast to these compensatory archival sources his travel account allows us to follow his self-representation as a narrator. His dominant self-concept was shaped by the polemics with the Muslim and heterodox Christian cultures. he affirmation of his adherence to western Christendom functions as the chief structuring principle of the text. he reader can hardly miss that his dominant identity present in the text is that of an orthodox Catholic clergyman. For more on Angelikus Müller, the observant Servites, and their practice of keeping records see V. Čapská, Představy společenství a strategie sebeprezentace. Řád servitů v habsburské monarchii, 1613–1780 [Imagined Community and Strategies of Representation. he Order of Servites in the Habs­ burg Monarchy, 1613–1780], Prag 2011. 18 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, p. 19–20. 19 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Virtes Buch, p. 2. 17 393 Veronika Čapská As elements in Müller’s subordinate identities one can identify his relationships to the Habsburg monarchy and the Servite Order. He was a Tyrolean born in Innsbruck20 and he repeatedly refers to his homeland, especially when meeting fellow countrymen in the Levant. However, when the Bohemian province of the Servite Order was founded in 1714 he was assigned to the new province21. As a newly-established administrative unit the province of Bohemia ofered good opportunities for career advancement chances to a new generation of friars. Müller also seems to have developed a bond to Bohemia. For example, he writes about the “beautiful kingdom of Bohemia” (“das schöne Königreich Böheimb”)22. During his Levantine journey when he celebrated Mass on the Festival of Saint Charles Borromeo (November 4th) he did not forget to point out that it was the name day of the emperor, Charles VI. (“der glorreiche Namenstag”)23. Müller’s identity as a member of the Servite Order permeates the whole travel account. He self-fashions himself as the follower of Saint Philip Benizi, one of the founding figures of the order. According to the Servite tradition, Saint Philip Benizi went to the Levant in the thirteenth century in order to spread the Servite Confraternity of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary with the Black Scapular. Müller writes that during the life of Saint Philip Benizi the Servite confraternities lourished in Asia and Africa and had many members. In the course of the centuries they supposedly disappeared and Müller styles himself as the renewer of the ancient work of the saint24. Müller was equipped with a privilege from the order’s general allowing him to establish new Confraternities of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary with the Black Scapular in the eastern Mediterranean. he Servite friar thus could fashion himself as the continuator of Saint Philip Benizi. Müller’s deep interest in various forms of asceticism was not awoken in the Levant but much earlier. Sometime in the 1720s he expressed a strong desire to leave the Bohemian province and to live a more strict form of the eremitical life at Monte Senario – the cradle of the order near Florence. In 1725 he was granted permission of the superiors to withdraw to the woods of Monte Senario to live there as a hermit25. 20 According to the register of the Servite friars he was born on the 21st of January 1677. Archives of the Servite Friary in Vienna, Registrum omnium fratrum, nr. 19. 21 Angelikus Müller entered the order as the “filius Conventus Neo-Pragae”, thus he followed his designated foundation place. Ibidem. 22 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, p. 507. 23 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, p. 26. 24 Cf. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Virtes Buch, p. 129. 25 G.M. Roschini, Galleria Servitana. Oltre mille religiosi dell’Ordine dei Servi di Maria illustri per santità, scienze, lettere ed arti, Roma 1976, p. 416. 394 Mendicant Friar in Contact with “Other” Religious Virtuosi However, due to Müller’s poor health, physicians soon discouraged him from the austere way of life and he was sent to the priory in Florence for treatment. In Summer, 1725, when his health improved, he was invited by the general of the order to Rome. Due to Müller’s ill health he was instructed to leave the eremitical life at Monte Senario26. Nevertheless, he was given special permission to make an extended pilgrimage to the Near East and to spread the Servite Confraternity of the Black Scapular there27. Besides his indisputable personal interest in ascetic monasticism, Müller’s text also indicates that he had an ambition to transmit his observations to the friars of his order and other interested people in his homelands − the Habsburg monarchy. On the occasion of his visit to the convent of eastern orthodox nuns in Cairo, for example, he states that he wants to speak with them in order to be able to tell about their way of life after his return to Central Europe28. His Levantine experience significantly increased his social capital, both within his religious order and among the elites of the Habsburg monarchy. In the Servite Order he retained intensive contacts with the prior general in Rome29. He probably enjoyed the reputation of a learned and experienced traveller: in 1733 he was appointed a theologian of the imperial ambassador of the Habsburg monarchy in London, Count Philip Joseph Kinsky. He died in London the following year30. he register of the Servite friars states explicitly: “Mortuus Londini in Anglia 1734. 13. Februarii ut heologus legati Caesarei Comitis Kinsky” (see fig. 3). A diplomatic career was very atypical for a Servite friar of the Germanic observance because the characteristic domains of operation of the Servites were rural friaries or small baroque places of pilgrimage. Müller’s Levantine journey, which lasted from November 27th 1725 to September 18th 1727, was divided by the Servite friar into five stages that were treated in the five Ibidem. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, pp. 1–5. 28 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, p. 415: “– – damit ich als ein Geistlicher auss weit entlegenen Europäischen Ländern anhero kommend so dann von der Egyptischen Clösterlichen Lebensart dieser Nonnen in unseren Ländern was erzehlen kunte”. 29 Cf. Summaries of the letters of the Servite general Pietro M. Pieri from September 6th 1732 and September 24th 1733 sent to the general vicar Prokopius M. Staab in Prague, in which the prior general sends his regards to Angelikus M. Müller. Cf. also a summary of a letter by a prior general from August 1st 1733 which was addressed directly to Angelikus M Müller. Archivio generale, Epistulae Priorum Generalium I., 24 (1731–1734). 30 Archives of the Servite Friary in Vienna, Registrum omnium fratrum, nr. 19. Cf. Amideus M. Markel, Speculum virtutis et scientiae seu viri illustres Ordinis Servorum B.M.V., Norimbergae et Viennae 1748, p. 23. More to count Philip Joseph Kinsky and his embassy see A. Valenta, Dějiny rodu Kinských [History of the Family Kinsky], České Budějovice 2004, pp. 86–98. 26 27 395 Veronika Čapská Fig. 3. Entry in the register of Servite friars stating that Angelikus M. Müller died as a theologian of the imperial ambassador count Kinsky in London on the 13th of February 1734. (Archives of the Servite Friary in Vienna, Registrum omnium fratrum, nr. 19. Courtesy of the Servite Order). respective volumes of his travel narrative. he travel account includes a map representing in a somewhat confused way the five sections of Müller’s route (see fig. 4). In the whole travelogue Angelikus Maria Müller emphasises the unimpaired integrity of his orthodox Catholic position. His close contact with other cultures, including monastic subcultures, had begun already aboard the sailing ship. Life on board, with its aspects of isolation, the necessity to share the day with a given group of people, and the authority of the captain, can be regarded as similar to the model of a monastery. However, unlike the monastery, the voyage brought together a very culturally and religiously heterogeneous group of people. his situation of close contact with shipmates probably moved Müller to inform the reader with painstaking regularity about the exact structure of the travellers with whom he shared his journey. He regarded the other Catholic clergymen as the most natural companions, especially the members of other religious orders (Franciscans, Jesuits, Trinitarians), with whom as he wrote he could enjoy spiritual kinship (“fromme Gespannschaft”)31. He appreciates a non-Catholic monk only once, in a liminal situation during the voyage on the river Nile from Rosetto to Cairo when Müller sufers from the lack of food and an elderly Coptic monk from the heban desert 31 396 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, p. 8. Mendicant Friar in Contact with “Other” Religious Virtuosi Fig. 4. Map of the routes of the Servite friar Angelikus M. Müller during his travels in the Levant. he legend omits the second journey. (Angelikus M. Müller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem. Courtesy of the Moravian Library in Brno. Sign. ST 2 0161 285). very willingly and repeatedly shares his bread and cheese with him. Müller even conveys that they both had their paliasses for sleep next to each other32. At the time of Müller’s travel to the eastern Mediterranean the Ottoman Empire no longer represented a serious threat to the European countries and European imperial rule in the Near East was just beginning. hus the transitional period seems to be very appropriate for the analysis of the continuities and breaks in the western representations of the Oriental Other. Müller, for instance, underwent his journey only a decade later than the famous English noblewoman Mary Wortley Montagu, whose “Letters from the Orient” brought a very unconventional view of Turkish culture. Müller’s approach was directed by his status of a clergyman: he did not want to undergo any risk of suspicion that his religious integrity was disturbed. He was inscribing himself 32 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, pp. 403–404. 397 Veronika Čapská in the role of a learned pilgrim with missionary features who was reliable and trustworthy in the question of religious orthodoxy. Complying with this role in the text of his travel account was probably one of the factors, if not the dominant one, that brought him the appointment to the position of the theologian of the ambassador of the Habsburg monarchy in London. As a priest he emphasises the dignity of his status and he expects respect. In his travel narrative he uses the esteem shown to him by an English ship captain to contrast the Englishman’s attitude with the deteriorating reverence for the clergy among Catholics. Müller also records hearsay spread among the Franciscans in the Syrian city of Aleppo about a Muslim woman that was supposedly punished by the Christian God for attacking a Franciscan missionary in the street. She was soon purportedly trampled to death by a horse33. hus Müller also occasionally interrupts the learned discourse with a popular one. he genre of the travel writing also allows him. In Müller’s conception, it is not possible to separate the ascetic practice of the religious virtuosi from the question of their religion, or more precisely, from the question of orthodoxy. When he visited the mostly Coptic monasteries in the Egyptian area of Wadi al-Natrun, for example, he remarked that it was to be regretted that only the monks of the Coptic and “schismatic” religions live there34. Müller’s overall attitude to the hermits in Wadi al-Natrun was marked by a certain fascination probably due to the awareness of common monastic roots. He certainly shared with the Wadi al-Natrun anchorites the veneration of the same early eremitical saints in this area, especially Saint Malarias and Saint Ephraim35. He also noticed that there were few priests among the monks so that only one Mass a day was said. Such a contrast in comparison with the majority of the European male monasteries of the day may well have surprised him. his contrast was due in part to the gradual increase in the importance of priests in the western religious orders over the course of centuries36. he Servite friar admired the architecture of the ancient monasteries and praised the ascetic life of the hermits. He appreciated their poverty, disciplining of the body, and the way they earned their living by working in the fields37. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Virtes Buch, pp. 118–119. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, p. 396. 35 To the complex of monasteries and other early modern European visitors in Wadi al-Natrun cf. newly S.G. Richter, Wadi al­Natrun and Coptic Literature, in: Christianity and Monasticism in Wadi al­Natrun, edd. M.S.A. Mikhail, M. Moussa, Cairo 2009, p. 50. 36 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, pp. 396–397. 37 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, p. 452–453; A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, p. 397. 33 34 398 Mendicant Friar in Contact with “Other” Religious Virtuosi Nevertheless, he characterizes the Coptic monks as “very simple people without ingeniousness and learning” (“gar einfältige Leute ohne Witz und Wissenschaft”)38. According to Müller the majority of the Coptic priests can only read but not write and they are thus supposedly greatly afraid when someone wants to lead a religious disputation with them because they fear being defeated and ashamed39. Müller takes painstaking efort to refute what he considers the false elements of Coptic learning. Nonetheless, he does not criticize or confute the way of life of the Coptic hermits40. He describes specific customs of the Coptic monks during the liturgy of Christ’s passion such as showing their wrath when it is read about the betrayal of Judas or shouting “Peter is great!” when they hear about saint Peter cutting of the ear of a high priest’s servant. Müller considers such conduct to be the sign of the hermits’ simplicity but he does not condemn it. He interprets their behaviour as the manifestation of religious zeal41. From the eastern forms of monasticism he thinks especially highly of the Maronite monks. Since the Maronites were unified with the Roman Catholic Church, he feels no need to criticize their religious views42. On the contrary Müller classifies them as good Catholic Christians (“gut Catholische Christen”) and he was also able to awaken a lot of interest in his Confraternity of the Black Scapular among the Maronites. After his visit to the Maronite monastery of Our Lady in Canobin (Kannoubeen) in the Lebanon mountains he praises the systematic manual labour of the Maronite monks who, according to him, diligently plough, plant, sow, prune and cultivate silkworms43. he Servite friar shows considerably less understanding for the Muslim religious virtuosi – the dervishes. Although he records that he was amicably received 38 Cf. for instance: A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, p. 452; A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, p. 396. 39 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, p. 452. 40 Müller summarizes the polemics with the Coptic doctrine in A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, p. 453. 41 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, p. 398. 42 Maronites were unified with the Roman Catholic Church since 1182. See for instance A. Vauchez, R.B. Dobson, M. Lapidge, Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, vol. 2, Cambridge 2000, pp. 910–911. 43 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Erste Buch, pp. 86–87: “Sie ackeren, plantzen, säen und schneiden alles mit eigner Hand; bemühen sich mit Beyhülf der Seiden-Würmer so viel zu sammen zu bringen, dass ihr Vorsteher dem Türckischen Kayser den jährlichen grossen Tribut von allen Früchten und Innwohneren – – bezahlen könne”. he Maronite monasteries were an important economic force in the Lebanon mountains at the time of Müller’s visit and their economic role was steadily rising in the course of the eighteenth century. See R. van Leeuwen, Monastic Estates and Agricultural Transformation in Mount Lebanon in the 18th Century, “International Journal of Middle East Sudies” 23, 1991, pp. 601–617. 399 Veronika Čapská in the dervish monastery in the vicinity of Aleppo44, he considers the life of the dervishes to be hypocritical. Müller concedes that the life of the dervishes is ascetic and describes various forms of their penitential practices. However he regards their self-disciplining exercises as merely superficial, pursued for the creation of the outward impression: “– – auf dem äusserlichen Schein aber zeigen sie als ob sie der Mässigkeit und dem Abbruch in Speiss und Tranck durch rauhes Fasten stets ergeben wären.”45 Müller reproduces the hearsay that the dervishes drink alcohol excessively and spread sodomy. He wrote a special chapter blatantly called he Dervishes – Big Hypo­ crites and he constructs the Muslim ascetics as the complete opposite of Christian monks aspiring at sanctity. He labels the dervishes as Satan’s evildoers (“Satanische Bössgewichte”) and accuses them of sodomy46. Müller also intensifies their civilizational alterity, including the deficient clothing, and attributes animal traits to them. He calls the putative intemperance of the dervishes bestial (“viehisch”) and calls the dancing dervishes raging beasts (“rasende Bestien”)47. he paradox of total misunderstanding is well expressed by Müller’s inability to decide whether to call them monks or not. For the lack of the appropriate language he denotes them as Turkish monks but at the same time he declares that they are not worthy to be called so48. Although all of Müller’s travel narrative is highly polemical, the Servite friar records in a more detailed way merely one verbal dispute he led in the Levant. he polemics between the representatives of two diferent cultures belongs to the topoi of travel literature49. In this context it is significant that Müller chose as a partner in the religious polemic an eastern orthodox nun – the superior of the convent in Cairo. As we will see it was easy for him to present a nun without formal theological education as an inferior partner in discussion. Müller and his prominent companion, the apostolic prefect in Cairo, went to see the convent and they were received by the abbess who met them kneeling and asked them zealously for their priestly blessing. In the following conversation in Arabic Müller was entirely dependant on his companion who adopted the role of the translator. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Viertes Buch, p. 129. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Andertes Buch, p. 294. 46 Ibidem, p. 294. 47 A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Andertes Buch, p. 294; A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Viertes Buch, p. 24. 48 Cf. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Andertes Buch, pp. 293 and 295. 49 See H. Kästner, Das Gespräch des Orientreisenden mit dem heidnischen Herrscher. Zur Typik und zu den Funktionen einer interkulturellen Dialogsszene in der Reiseliteratur des Spätmittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit, in: Gespräche – Boten – Briefe. Körpergedächtnis und Schriftgedächtnis im Mittelalter, ed. H. Wenzel, Berlin 1997, pp. 280–295. 44 45 400 Mendicant Friar in Contact with “Other” Religious Virtuosi he Servite friar called the disputation “a religious discourse in the matter of faith” (“einen geistlichen Discourse in Glaubenssachen”)50. However it was the abbess who guided the conversation and who posed the questions. First she asked why the Servite friar undertook such a long journey to this country. Müller writes that he replied that he came thanks to the special guidance of God and that he wanted to see whether Egypt was still the lourishing holy land. He continued that regrettably he finds in “these lands” mostly the antagonists of Christians and purportedly schismatic pursuers of Catholics. hus he probably provoked the abbess to ask why the Latin church separated from the Greek one. Müller regarded the question as laughable – as a badly formulated question which was posed by an ignorant woman (“von einem unverständigen Weibsbild”)51. To the second question of the abbess the Servite friar replied that not the Catholic church but the Greek church fell away and that in the course of history the Greek apostasy repeated 22 times after the respective attempts at unification. At this point however the conversation froze and took a speedy end. he Servite friar also compared the attire of the visited nuns to the habit of European religious sisters and found it very similar. He especially appreciated their strict way of life, frequent and long fasting, and observance of the nocturnal office in the choir52. his was probably mentioned to provide a critical mirror and censure the proverbial laxity concerning the nocturnal office in many European monasteries of the time. Drawing on the typology of interpreting the Other as formulated by the German scholar Ortfried Schäfter, we can conclude that whereas the Muslim ascetics were perceived by Müller as the complete negation of his own monastic culture, all the religious virtuosi of the eastern Mediterranean served him as a resonance board for castigation of the laws of western monasticism. Only the orthodox forms of asceticism, united with Rome, were regarded by him as the complementary Other53. It is clear that Müller’s clerical status channelled his interest to the various forms of religious virtuosity practiced in the eastern Mediterranean. It could also be said that his status of a priest simultaneously directed and limited his view. His ostentatious demonstration of adherence to orthodoxy brought its fruit in the form of the highpoint of his career as a theologian of the imperial ambassador in London, once again in the midst of a non-Catholic country. A.M. Myller, Peregrinus in Jerusalem, Drittes Buch, p. 415. Ibidem, Drittes Buch, p. 416. 52 Ibidem, p. 418. 53 O. Schäffter, Modi des Fremderlebens. Deutungsmuster im Umgang mit Fremdheit, in: Das Fremde. Erfahrungsmöglichkeiten zwischen Faszination und Bedrohung, ed. O. Schäfter, Opladen 1991, pp. 11–42. 50 51 401 Veronika Čapská Mendikant v kontaktu s “jinými” náboženskými virtuosy: Cestopis servity Angelika M. Müllera (1677–1734) Obsah Cestopis Angelika M. Müllera nazvaný Peregrinus in Jerusalem je považován za nejrozsáhlejší raně novověký cestopisný text z českých zemí. Byl sepsán v Praze členem mendikantského řádu Služebníků Panny Marie, tzv. servitů. Pětisvazkové dílo, jež popisuje cestu z italského přístavu Livorno do Palestiny, Konstantinopole, Egypta, Sýrie a zpět do Říma podniknutou mezi lety 1725 až 1727, leželo velmi dlouho stranou badatelské pozornosti. Patrně také proto, že bylo sepsáno německy a o autorovi nebylo takřka nic známo. Má studie využívá dosud opomíjené řádové prameny a soustředí se na tento cestopis jako na prostředek sebe-preze ntace autora a reprezentace náboženských virtuosů jiných kultur ve smyslu raženém německým sociologem Maxem Weberem. Cestopis byl v průběhu 18. století dvakrát vydán tiskem, poprvé v Praze postupně mezi lety 1729 a 1732 v úzké souvislosti s autorovým procesem psaní, podruhé pak ve Vídni v roce 1735. Obě edice byly bohatě doprovázeny mědiryty, jež však nebyly vždy vevázány do každého exempláře. Při pečlivém prozkoumání více než třiceti doprovodných grafik je možné říci, že dvě také zachycují Angelika M. Müllera (obr. č. 1 a 2). V textu cestopisu klade Angelik M. Müller důraz na integritu své pravověrné pozice a věnuje intenzívní pozornost asketům a monastickým subkulturám, s nimiž se setkal – především maronitským a koptským mnichům a muslimským dervišům. Pozoruhodnou částí textu je polemika s pravoslavnou abatyší konventu v Káhiře, jež má rysy cestopisného topos dialogu zástupců různých kultur. Díky svému rozsáhlému cestopisnému dílu získal Angelik M. Müller patrně reputaci učeného cestovatele a teologa se zkušenostmi pobytu v nekatolických zemích. V roce 1733 tak jeho kariéra vyvrcholila jmenováním oficiálním teologem habsburského ambasadora, hraběte Filipa Josefa Kinského, v Londýně, kde o rok později zemřel (viz obr. č. 3). 402