The Medieval Gospel of Barnabas PEOPLE IN THE SPANISH PREFACE NEW! A Comprehensive Solution to the Mysteries of the Gospel of Barnabas - R. Blackhirst The preface that accompanies the Spanish version of the Gospel of Barnabas tells an extraordinary, if incredible, tale. It relates that a certain "Fra Marino" - an employee of the Inquisition - received numerous heretical books in a sequence of happy accidents that ultimately led him to "discover" the Gospel of Barnabas (after which he converted to Islam). Most readers doubt the literal substance of the Preface - it is manifestly a tall tale - but it is also a fascinating and intriguing account that is obviously full of "clues" for those hoping to unravel the mysteries of the work.
There are a number of people named in the Preface. The following notes are aimed at establishing exactly who these people were as a first step towards establishing why their names appear in the Preface:
There are five people named in the Preface:
1. Fra Marino, the supposed author.
2. Montalto, otherwise Pope Sixtus V.
3. A Lady of the Colonna family
4. A gentleman of the Urfini family
5. Mustafa de Aranda, supposed translator of the Italian GoB into Spanish.Who are these people?
The only name we can be sure of is Pope Sixtus V. The preface calls him by his knick-name, 'Montalto' - named after the place he grew up and studied. His real name was Felice Peretti.
The supposed author of the Preface, Fra Marino, is unknown. See the following notes on this riddle, here.
Mustafa de Aranda is also unknown. There have been no convincing attempts to idenify him. According to some he is fictitious or Mustafa de Aranda is the assumed Muslim name of "Fra Marino".
The gentleman of the "Urfini" family is easier to identify. By "Urfini" the preface surely means "Orisini", arch-enemies of the Colonna family in Italian and papal politics. Of the gentleman of the Urfini/Orsini family we are told that he found heretical books in HIS library among the books of his forefathers. This can only be one person: FULVIO ORSINI.
Fulvio Orsini (born 11 Dec. 1529, died 18 May 1600) was an antiquarian and librarian who was assigned the task of keeping in order and augmenting the Orsini family's substantial collection of antiquities, books and manuscripts. He was a renowned collector and scholar with a passionate interest in early Christianity and early Rome. He actively sought out ancient manuscripts. For example, he found a manuscript containing fragments of the works of Dio Cassius in a manuscript of Constantine's "Of Embassies" in Sicily. (These are now known as Fragmenta Ursiniana.) Many important ancient and medieval manuscripts passed through his hands, including works by Tertullian and other Church Fathers. He was an accomplished master of ancient languages in the Humanist tradition. He published a new edition of Arnobius (1583) and various works on ancient Roman families (famili Roman ex antiquis numistmatibus - 1577, Fragmenta historicorum - 1595). He also produced a new edition of the Septuagint Bible (1587). At his death in 1600 his library was donated to the Vatican library, the largest single donation of important manuscripts in the Vatican library's history. In many ways the incorporation of Orsini's library with the Vatican collection consolidated the Vatican library and made it what it is today.
All of this information fits the character named in the Spanish Preface EXACTLY. Unless the equation Urfini=Orsini is wrong, there can be little doubt that the gentleman who is said to have handed heretical books from the library of his forefathers to the friendly Inquisitor "Fra Marino" is FULVIO ORSINI.
The identity of the Lady of the Colonna family is less certain, but she can probably be identified as COSTANZA COLONNA, the Marchessa di Caravaggio. The Preface says she was a widow with two sons who were minors at the father's death. In fact, Costanza Colonna had six sons, but two of them were notoriously stormy characters and travelled with her: Muzio and Fabrizio. Her husband, Francesco Sforza, died in 1580. Muzio was her oldest son, born in 1569, and so only eleven years old at his father's death. If we take it that Costanza Colonna was known as having "two sons" - the notorious ones - and overlook the fact that she eventually had six sons, then we have a very close match.
This opens up an intruiging possibility. Costanza Colonna AND Fulvio Orsini were in the circle of Caravaggio the Baroque painter. In this circle was also the poet GIAMBATTISTA MARINO. Marino, a notorious homosexual, was the impresario of a circle of courtly painters, writers and intellectuals. In 1598 he was imprisoned for sodomy, but released shortly afterwards. Then, in 1601, in a much more serious incident, he was imprisoned for FORGERY: he had forged documents to save a young friend from execution. The deception was discovered, his friend executed and Marino was thrown into jail with the threat of having his hands cut off - standard penalty for forgers.
So could this be the "Fra Marino" named in the Preface? Giambattista Marino was certainly not a monk, nor did he work for the Inquisition, nor was he ever a friend of Montalto, Sixtus V. But he WAS in the same circle as the "gentleman of the Urfini family" and the "Lady Colonna" and he was a known forger. This must at least make him a candidate for the mysterious "Marino" who is supposed to have written the preface.
Comments and discussion are invited. Email at: r. blackhirst@latrobe.edu.au.
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