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Menocchio
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The Friulian miller Menocchio, also known as Domenico Scandella, was born in 1532 in Montereale, twenty-five kilometers north of Pordenone. His philosophical teachings earned him the title of a heresiarch during the Inquisition and he was eventually burned at the stake in 1599, at the age of 67, on orders of Pope Clement VIII. He was married and had eleven children. In 1581 he had been mayor of the village and the surrounding hamlets.
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The Friulian miller Menocchio, also known as Domenico Scandella, was born in 1532 in Montereale, twenty-five kilometers north of Pordenone. His philosophical teachings earned him the title of a heresiarch during the Inquisition and he was eventually burned at the stake in 1599, at the age of 67, on orders of Pope Clement VIII. He was married and had eleven children. In 1581 he had been mayor of the village and the surrounding hamlets. He is the subject of Italian Historian Carlo Ginzburg's book, The Cheese and the Worms.
Education
Menocchio's literacy may be accounted for by schools in located in the villages surrounding Friuli; Aviano and Pordenone. A school was opened at the beginning of the sixteenth century under the direction of Girolamo Amaseo for, "for reading and teaching, without exception, children of citizens as well as those artisans and the lower classes, old as well as young, without payment." It is possible that Menocchio attended a school such as this.
No complete list exists of the books that Menocchio might have read which influenced his view of the cosmos. At the time of his arrest several books were found, but since they were not prohibited, no record was taken. Based on Menocchio's first trial these books are known to have been read.
- 1. The Bible in the vernacular
- 2. Il Fioretto della Bibbia(a translation of a medieval Catalan chronicle compiled from various sources)
- 3. Il Lucidario della Madonna, by the Dominicam Albert da Castello
- 4. Il Lucendario de santi, by Jacopo da Voragine (see Golden Legend )
- 5. Historia del giudicio(anonymous fifteenth-century poem)
- 6. Il cavallier Zuanne de Mandavilla (an Itallian translation of the book of travels attributed to Sir John Mandeville)
- 7. A book called Zampollo ( Il sogno dil Caravia)
Based on the testimony from Menocchio's second trial these books also are known to be read.
- 8. Il supplimento della cronache
- 9. Lunario al modo di Italia calculato composto nella citta di Pescaro dal. ecc. mo dottore Marino Camilo de Leonardis
- 10. the Decameron of Boccaccio
- 11. an unidentified book believed to be an Italian translation of the Koran
Many of these books were loaned to Menocchio and were common of the time. How Menocchio read and interpreted these texts might provide insight into his views which lead to his execution for proselytizing heretical ideas.
First interrogation
On February 7th, 1584, Menocchio faced his first inquest at the prison of the Holy Office in Concordia. Francesco Fasseta testified that, "He is always arguing with somebody about the faith just for the sake of arguing - even with the priest." Menocchio believed that the Holy Spirit did not govern the church. "Priests want us under their thumb, just to keep us quiet, while they have a good time," he stated adding that he knew God better than the priests. Stories of Menocchio debating the ideology of the Holy Roman Church and his nature to debate and disseminate his opinions led to his arrest for his heresies. He offered to "teach the true way." This confirmed his charges of a teacher of heretical doctrines and behaviors.
Throughout the inquest Menocchio denounced the way the rich tyrannized the poor by using Latin in the courts, unintelligible to common peasants. He also admitted to questioning the virginity of Mary.
The Cheese and the Worms
During the preliminary questioning Menocchio spoke freely as he felt he had done nothing wrong. It is in this hearing that he explained his cosmology about The Cheese and the Worms, the title of Carlo Ginzburg's Micro History of Menocchio and source of much that is known of this 16th century miller.
Menocchio said: "I have said that, in my opinion, all was chaos, that is, earth, air, water, and fire were mixed together; and out of that bulk a mass formed- just as cheese is made out of milk- and worms appeared in it, and these were the angels. The most holy majesty decreed that these should be God and the angels, and among that number of angels there was also God, he too having been created out of that mass at the same time, and he was named lord with four captains, Lucifer, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. That Lucifer sought to make himself lord equal to the king, who was the majesty of God, and for this arrogance God ordered him driven out of heaven with all his host and his company; and this God later created Adam and Eve and people in great number to take the places of the angels who had been expelled. And as this multitude did not follow God's commandments, he sent his Son, whom the Jews seized, and he was crucified."
Warned to denouce his ways and uphold the beliefs of the Holy Roman Church by both his inquisitors and his family, Menocchio returned to his village. Because of his nature, he was unable to cease speaking his ideology with those who would listen.
Second interrogation
News that Menocchio had uttered a blasphemy in referring to what is thought to be the Koran as "a most beautiful book" traveled to the inquisitor. His rejection of the Trinity and the central dogmas of Christianity might have led to his interest in the mysterious book. A traveling converted Jew named Simon appeared in Montereale where Menocchio gave him shelter where they spoke about religious questions. These stories reached the inquisitor which led to his second interrogation, imprisonment at Concordia for two years and eventually to his sentence. The pope himself, Clement VIII, demanded his death.
If the "most beautiful book" -"lost" at the time of the interrogation, and "identified" on the hearsay of Simon- was indeed a "Koran", it might have been an Italian translation or adaption of Guillaume Postel's Alcorani, seu legis Mahometi et evangelistarum concordia liber (Paris, 1543) i.e. " The Koran, or the book of the laws of Mahomet and the concord of the evangelists ". This would have struck a distinct note of recognition with Menocchio, who (ref Ginzburg) had read exactly this concord in John Mandeville his 'Travels' and whose comment on this during his first interrogation had ruffled the feathers of the inquisitors.
Postel (ref Yvelise Bernard, 1988) spent the years 1547-1549 in Venice working on his translation of the Zohar and the Bahir. His subsequent concordial capers must have left a mark that Menocchio could have easely picked up on his travels to Venice. The tragedy could then have been that for Menocchio the name Guillaume Postel -among other the foremost arabist of his time,responsible for his own translations from the Koran, i.e. the Alcorani ... as mentioned- stood for solid reference while Rome had long since considered that uncommon genius a common madman.
Carlo Ginzburg proposes the lecture of L'Alcorani di Macometto:nel qual si contiene la doctrina,la vita,i costumi et le leggi sue/tradotto nuovamente dall'Arabo in lingua Italiana , Venise 1547. This could also refer to Bibliander, Basel, 1543. ( for which Bibliander borrowed Postel's new translation of the first Sura, ref Yvelise Bernard,1988)
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