Jordan Catala

Christian flag of theKing of Colombo,according to theCatalan Atlas(1375).Jordan and his "Book of Marvels" (Mirabilia descripta,1340) was probably the source of the information aboutColomboin the Catalan Atlas.

Jordan Catala of Sévérac(fl. 1280-c. 1330also known asJordan de Catalunya) was anOccitanianDominicanmissionaryandexplorerinAsiaknown for hisMirabilia descriptadescribing the marvels of the East. He was the first bishop of thediocese of Quilon,the first Roman Catholic diocese in theIndian subcontinent.

Name and family

Jordan's surname, Catala, is theOccitanfor "Catalan" (from LatinCatalanus). It probably indicates his family's origins inCatalonia.Modern French authors occasionally render itCatalan,although a spelling with the final 'n' is not original. The alternative spellingCathalais contemporary, but probably does not represent the Occitan pronunciation. The spellingJordanis Occitan.

Jordan'sMirabilia descriptadoes not use his surname. It gives his name in Latin asJordanusand describes him asoriundum de Severaco,a native ofSévérac-le-Châteauin theRouergue.Local documentation reveals several persons named Catala active in and around Sévérac, including a notary named Jordan active between 1286 and 1318. Jordan's family does not seem to be connected with thelords of Sévérac.

Birth and education

Jordan was probably born around 1275–1280, since the normal age for a long-distance emissary was about 45. There is no record of him studying in the Dominican province of Toulouse prior to the separation of the province of Provence in 1302. He probably did not join the Dominicans until later. He may have studied at theUniversity of Toulouse.He completed his education in the Dominican convents ofPersia,where he learned thePersian language.

Travels

Jordan was possibly a disciple of Jerome of Catalonia.In 1302 Jordan may have accompaniedThomas of Tolentino,viaNegropont,to the East; but it is only in 1321 that we definitely discover him in western India, in the company of Thomas and his companions. Ill-luck detained them atThaneinSalsette Island,nearBombay;and here Jordan's companions were killed on 8 and 11 April 1321.

Jordan, escaping, worked some time atBharuch,inGujarat,near theNarmadaestuary, and atSuvalinearSurat;to his fellow-Dominicans in north Persia he wrote two letters – the first fromGogoin Gujarat (12 October 1321), the second fromThane(24 January 1323/4) describing the progress of this new mission. From these letters we learn that Roman attention had already been directed, not only to the Bombay region, but also to the extreme south of the Indian peninsula, especially to Columbum (Kollam) in laterTravancore;Jordan's words may imply that he had already started a mission there before October 1321.

From Catholic traders Jordan had learnt thatEthiopia(i.e. Abyssinia andNubia) was accessible to Western Europeans; at this very time, as we know from other sources, the earliest Latin missionaries penetrated thither. Finally, the Epistles of Jordan, like the contemporary Secreta ofMarino Sanuto(1306–1321), urge the Pope to establish a Christian fleet upon the Indian seas.

Jordan, between 1324 and 1328 (if not earlier), probably visited Kollam and selected it as the best centre for his future work; it would also appear that he revisited Europe about 1328, passing through Persia, and perhaps touching at the great Crimean port ofSudak.He was appointed a bishop in 1328 and nominated byPope John XXIIin his bullVenerabili Fratri Jordanoto the see of Columbum (Quilon) on 21 August 1329.This diocese was the first Roman Catholic one in the whole of theIndies,with jurisdiction over modern India,Pakistan,Afghanistan,Bangladesh,Burma,andSri Lanka.It was created on 9 August by the decreeRomanus Pontifix.Together with the new bishop ofSamarkand,Thomas of Mancasola,Jordan was commissioned to take thepalliumtoJohn de Cora,archbishop of Sultaniyah in Persia, within whose province Kollam was reckoned; he was also commended to the Christians of south India, both east and west ofCape Comorin,by Pope John.

Mirabilia descripta

Mirabilia descripta,English edition 1863

Either before going out toMalabaras bishop, or during a later visit to the west, Jordan probably wrote hisMirabilia,which from internal evidence can only be fixed within the period 1329–1338; in this work he furnished the best account of Indian regions, products, climate, manners, customs, fauna and flora given by any European in the Middle Ages — superior even toMarco Polo's.

In his triple division of the Indies, India Major comprises the shorelands from Malabar toCochin China;while India Minor stretches fromSind(or perhaps fromBaluchistan) to Malabar; and India Tertia (evidently dominated by African conceptions in his mind) includes a vast undefined coast-region west of Baluchistan, reaching into the neighborhood of, but not including, Ethiopia andPrester John's domain.Jordan'sMirabiliacontains the earliest clear African identification of Prester John, and what is perhaps the first notice of theBlack Seaunder that name; it refers to the author's residence in India Major and especially at Kollam, as well as to his travels inArmenia,north-west Persia, theLake Vanregion, andChaldaea;and it supplies excellent descriptions ofParseedoctrines and burial customs, of Hindu ox-worship, idol-ritual, andsuttee,and of Indian fruits, birds, animals and insects. After 8 April 1330 we have no more knowledge of Bishop Jordan.

Extracts ofMirabilia descripta

• 
  Catholic critical account ofSaint Thomas Christiansin India, written by Jordanus in 1329–1338 inMirabilia descripta.
• 
  Original facsimile extracts from the unique manuscript of Jordanus,Mirabilia descripta(1329–1338)
• 
  Jordanus, on the destructions of the "Turkish Saracens"in India (Mirabilia descripta,written in 1329–1338).

See also

• Chronology of European exploration of Asia

References

Primary sources

According toBeazley (1911),"[o]f Jordan's Epistles there is only one MS., viz. Paris, National Library, 5006 Lat., fol. 182, r. and v.; of the Mirabilia also one MS. only, viz. London, British Library,"Additional MSS., 19513, fols. 3, r.f 2 r.

• The text of the Epistles is inQuétif–Échard,Scriptores ordinis praedicatorum,i. 549–550 (Epistle I.)
• and inLuke Wadding,Annales minorum,vi. 359–361 (Epistle II.)
• Latin text of theMirabilia:"Description des Merveilles d'une partie de l'Asie par le P. Jordan ou Jourdain Catalani".Recueil de Voyages et de Mémoires par la Société Géographie Volume 4(in French and Latin). Paris: Arthus-Bertrand. 1839. pp. 1–68.
• English translation of theMirabiliaasThe Wonders of the East.
• The Papal letters referring to Jordan are inOdericus Raynaldus,Annales ecclesiastici,1330, f lv. and lvii (8 April; 14 February).

Secondary sources

• Yule, Henry, ed. and trans.(1863).Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East.London: Hakuyt Society.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Yule, Henry (1913)."Additional notes and corrections to the translation of theMirabiliaof Friar Jordanus ".Cathay and the way thither: being a collection of medieval notices of China (Volume 3).London: Hakluyt Society. pp. 39–44.
• Henry Yule'sCathay,giving a version of the Epistles, with a commentary, &c. (Hakluyt Society, 1866) pp. 184–185, 192–196, 225–230
• Kurdian, H. (1937). "A correction to 'Mirabilia descripta' (The Wonders of the East). By Friar Jordanuscirca1330 ".Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.69(3): 480–481.doi:10.1017/S0035869X00086032.S2CID163202845.
• F. Kunstmann,Die Mission in Meliapor und Tana und die Mission in Columboin the Historisch-politische Blätter of Phillips and Görres, xxxvii. 2538, 135–152 (Munich, 1856), &c.
• Beazley, C.R.(1906).The Dawn of Modern Geography (Volume 3).Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 215–235.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Beazley, Charles Raymond(1911). "Jordanus".InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 512.