1336–1341: Ludolf of Sudheim’s Travel Account on a “Rite of the Saracens” in Sicily

Abstract

In the mid-fourteenth century, the pilgrim and traveler Ludolf of Sudheim reported in his “Book of the Journey to the Holy Land” (De itinere Terrae sanctae liber) that three different Christian rites existed in Sicily—a Latin rite, a rite of the Greeks, and one of the “Saracens.” The present article discusses this statement with the help of contemporary German translations of the travel account. In doing so, it considers what exactly Ludolf understood by “rite” and which groups of people the term “Saracens” might refer to. It probably designated a group of Arabic-speaking Christians, only some of whom were the descendants of Muslims who had converted to Christianity.