Katarina Vilioni

Katarina Vilioni was an Italian woman, member of a trader family in Yangzhou, China, during the 14th century. She is known through a tombstone which was discovered among the ramparts of Yangzhou in 1951 by the People's Liberation Army. The tombstone is inscribed in the Gothic script, and explains that she died in 1342, and was the daughter of Domenico Vilioni. The tombsone also contains depictions of the matyrdom of Saint Catherine.

The existence of this tombstone in Yangzhou, a few years after the visit of Marco Polo who had some administrative role in the city, suggests that there was a thriving Italian community in the city, probably involved in silk trade. [Frances Wood, p125-126]

The tombstone reads:

:In nomine abbr|Dñi |Domini amen hic jacet:Katerina filia q<u>ondam Domini:abbr|Dñici|Dominici de Vilionis que obiit in:anno Domini mileximo ["Mileximo" written for "milesimo", due to Italian pronunciation.] CCC:XXXX II de mense Junii

"In the name of the Lord, amen. Here lies Caterina former [Or "daughter of the former (etc.)" The word "former" of course refers to the fact that both are dead.] daughter of signore Domenico de Vilioni, who died in A.D. 1342, in the month of June."

The Medieval scholar Robert Lopez has corrected the reading of the familly name to "Ilioni", and related the father to a certain "Dominico Ilioni", who was inscribed in 1348 in the registers of the city of Genoa in relation to a merchant named Jacopo de Oliverio, who is said by that document to have lived in the "Kingdom of Cathay", where he multiplied his capital five-fold. ["The Chan's Great Continent", Chap 1, Jonathan D.Spence [http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/spence-continent.html here] , also: [http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/ca/pdf/1757_chap1.pdf "Les Mondes de Marco Polo", p.9] ]

Another smaller plaque was discovered a few year later, together with a Christian sculpture and a short inscription mentioning the death of the son of the same Dominico, named Antonio, in November 1344.

This Italian community would have been supported by some form of religious structure. In 1322, the Franciscan Odoric de Pordenone visited Yangzhou, and said he resided among Franciscans there, and that there were also three Nestorian churches in the city. ["The Chan's Great Continent", Chap 1, Jonathan D.Spence [http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/spence-continent.html here] , also: [http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/ca/pdf/1757_chap1.pdf "Les Mondes de Marco Polo", p.10] ]

ee also

* Europeans in Medieval China

Notes

References

*"The Silk Road", Frances Wood, University of California Press, ISBN 0520243404
*"The Chan's Great Continent", Chap 1, Jonathan D. Spence, W. W. Norton & Company [http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/spence-continent.html online]