Riccoldo da Monte di Croce
Illustration — Riccoldo da Monte di Croce and Pope Nicolas IV Riccoldo da Monte di Croce (Florence; c. He is most famous for his polemical works on Medieval Islam and the account of his missionary travels to Baghdad.
Also recorded as Ricold · Ricold of Monte Croce
Riccoldo da Monte di Croce

Master of Boucicaut · Dall'islam alle crociate · Public domain
- Born
- 1242 · Florence.
- Died
- 1320 · Florence.
- Occupation
- explorer · writer · missionary · monk
- Fields
- Christianity · Islam
- Known for
- Liber peregrinationis · Epistole quinque commentatorie de perditione Acconis · Contra legem Sarracenorum · Ad nationes orientales
- Languages
- medieval Latin · medieval Italian · Latin
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Illustration — Riccoldo da Monte di Croce and Pope Nicolas IV Riccoldo da Monte di Croce (Florence; c. He is most famous for his polemical works on Medieval Islam and the account of his missionary travels to Baghdad.
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Authority files
gnd · 134085211X · wikidata · Q239820 · wikipedia · Riccoldo da Monte di Croce
In this article
Life
Life
The recorded working language is medieval Latin, medieval Italian and Latin. The field of work recorded is Christianity and Islam. Thomas Aquinas is recorded as an influence. Works named in the authority record are Liber peregrinationis, Epistole quinque commentatorie de perditione Acconis, Contra legem Sarracenorum and Ad nationes orientales.
Riccoldo was born in Florence, and his family name originated from a small castle just above Pontassieve. As he is sometimes referenced as "Pennini", his father was presumably named Pennino. After studying in various major European schools, he became a Dominican in 1267, entering the house of Santa Maria Novella. He was a professor in several convents of Tuscany, including St Catherine in Pisa (1272–99). With a papal commission to preach he departed for Acre (Antiochia Ptolemais) in 1286 or 1287 and made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (1288) and then travelled for many years as a missionary in western Asia. He arrived in Mossul in 1289, equipped with a papal bull. He failed to convince the Nestorian Christian mayor of the city to convert to Catholicism. He was a missionary to the court of the Mongol Il-Khan ruler Arghun, of whom he wrote that he was "a man given to the worst of villainy, but for all that a friend of the Christians". Moving to Baghdad, Riccoldo entered in conflict with the local Nestorian Christians, preaching against them in their own cathedral. He was allowed nonetheless by Mongol authorities to build his own church, with the interdiction to preach in public. Riccoldo brought the matter to the Nestorian patriarch Yahballaha III, who agreed with him that the doctrine of Nestorius, namely the duality of Christ (thus achieving a theoretical fusion of the Latin Church and the Church of the East) was heretical. Yahballaha was however disavowed by his own followers. He returned to Florence before 1302, and was chosen to high offices in his order. He died in Florence on 31 October 1320.
Works
Works
• Illustration — Title page of Riccoldo's work published in Seville c.1500, showing a Christian friar preaching to Muslims
Travels
Travels
His Book of Travels (Liber Peregrinacionis) or Itinerary (Itinerarius), written about 1288–91, was intended as a guide-book for missionaries, and is a description of the Oriental countries he visited. In 1288 or 1289 he began to keep a record of his experiences in the Levant; this record he probably reduced to final book form in Baghdad. Entering Syria at Acre, he crossed Galilee to the Sea of Tiberias; thence returning to Acre he seems to have travelled down the coast to Jaffa, and so up to Jerusalem. After visiting the Jordan River and the Dead Sea he left Palestine by the coast road, retracing his steps to Acre and passing on by Tripoli and Tortosa into Cilicia. From the Cilician port of Lajazzo (now Yumurtalik in Turkey) he started on the great high road to Tabriz in north Persia. Crossing the Taurus he travelled on by Sivas of Cappadocia to Erzerum, the neighborhood of Ararat and Tabriz. In and near Tabriz he preached for several months, after which he proceeded to Baghdad via Mosul and Tikrit. In Baghdad he stayed several years. As a traveller and observer his merits are conspicuous. His account of the Tatars and his sketch of Islamic religion and manners are especially noteworthy. In spite of strong prejudice, he shows remarkable breadth of view and appreciation of merit in systems different from his own.
On the Fall of Acre
On the Fall of Acre
His Letters on the Fall of Acre (Epistolæ de Perditione Acconis) are five letters in the form of lamentations over the fall of Acre (written about 1292, published in Paris, 1884).
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1242
Riccoldo da Monte di Croce was born in 1242 at Florence.
1320
Riccoldo da Monte di Croce died in 1320 at Florence.
Apologetic writings against Islam and Judaism
• Illustration — Bibliothèque nationale de France MS ar. 384, the Arabic manuscript of the Qur'an read by Riccoldo while he was writing his book Contra legem Saracenorum, with Riccoldo's annotations in Latin During his stay in Baghdad, Riccoldo studied the Qur'an and other works of Islamic theology for controversial purposes, arguing with Nestorian Christians, and writing. In 1300–1301 Riccoldo again appeared in Florence. About 1300 in Florence he wrote Against the Laws of the Saracens (Contra Legem Sarracenorum) and To the Eastern Races (Ad Nationes Orientales). Riccoldo's best known work of this kind was his book Against the Laws of the Saracens, written in Baghdad, which has in previous centuries been very popular among Christians as a polemical source against Islam, and has been often edited (first published in Seville, 1500, under the title Confutatio Alcorani or "Confutation of the Koran"). This work was translated into German by Martin Luther in 1542 as Verlegung des Alcoran. There are translations into English by Thomas C. Pfotenhauer (Islam in the Crucible: Can It Pass the Test?, Lutheran News, Inc., 2002), and Londini Ensis, under the title, "Refutation of the Koran" (Createspace 2010). Much of this work's contents derive from those sections of the Book of Travels devoted to Muslim beliefs and related topics. One of Riccoldo's major sources, extensively quoted in his own work, is the anonymous Liber Denudationis siue Ostensionis aut Patefaciens. Despite Riccoldo's hostility towards Islam, his work shows specific knowledge of the Qur'an and overcomes one important prejudicial error common to other Medieval criticisms of Islam: the view of Muhammad as an introducer of a Christological heresy. The Christianæ Fidei Confessio facta Sarracenis (printed in Basel, 1543) is attributed to Riccoldo, and was probably written about the same time as the above-mentioned works. Other works are: Against the Errors of the Jews (Contra Errores Judaeorum); Against the Eastern Races (Libellus contra Nationes Orientales; MSS. at Florence and Paris); Against the Saracens and Quran (Contra Sarracenos et Alcoranum; MS. at Paris); and On Different Religions (De Variis Religionibus; MS. at Turin). Very probably the last three works were written after his return to Europe; the last has a title similar to the last chapter of the Travels (De Variis Religionibus Terre Sancte). Riccoldo is also known to have written two theological works—a defence of the doctrines of Thomas Aquinas (in collaboration with John of Pistoia, about 1285) and a commentary on the Libri Sententiarum (before 1288). Riccoldo began a Latin translation of the Quran about 1290, but it is not known whether this work was completed.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- The Christian Theology of Islam: A Trajectory via Riccoldo da Monte di Croce and Guillaume Postel, Konferenser, 2024
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2024
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 134085211X, Riccoldo da Monte di Croce (†1320). Missionary to the Middle East and expert on Islam (Veranstaltung : 2017 : Stockholm).
Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
reference work
- “Riccoldo da Monte di Croce”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
The Christian Theology of Islam: A Trajectory via Riccoldo da Monte di Croce and Guillaume Postel, Konferenser, 2024Crossref registry
Verifiedauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 134085211X, Riccoldo da Monte di Croce (†1320). Missionary to the Middle East and expert on Islam (Veranstaltung : 2017 : Stockholm).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Wikidata, structured authority record Q239820: Riccoldo da Monte di CroceWikimedia Foundation
Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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