Inscriptions

Inscription #1070, S. Maria Novella 624 Tomb of Joseph, Patriarch of Constaninople

hIC IACET EXIMIUS IOSEPhPATRIARCHA COnSTAnTINOPOLITAnUS QUI OBIT Å. Dⁱ. M̊ CCC̊CC̊CC̊CXXXX [sic] DIE PRIMA IUNII

Hic iacet eximius Joseph, Patriarcha Constantinopolitanus, qui obi(i)t A(nn)o D(omin)i MCCCCXXXX die prima Iunii

Hic iacet eximius Joseph, Patriarcha Constantinopolitanus, qui obiit anno Domini MCCCCXXXX die prima Iunii

Here lies the exceptional Joseph, Patriarch of Constantinople, who died in the year of the Lord 1440 [sic] on the first day of June

Memorial	S. Maria Novella 624 Tomb of Joseph, Patriarch of Constaninople
Taken From	monument
Position
Text Direction
Letterform	Gothic
Languages	Latin a
Keywords	date day/month Florentine honoree named occupation place of origin title year b
Database ID	1070

A. Diana, "Intorno al monumento funebre del Patriarca"	pp. 162n33
ASF, Manoscritti, 812, Sermartelli, Sep. S. M. Novella (copy)	fol. 50 (p. 45 o.s.)
ASF, Manoscritti, 625, Rosselli, Sepoltuario Fiorentino, 1657 (copy)	pp. 761, no. 624

[a] The inscription contains a peculiar rendering of the year 1440 in Roman numerals.
[b] The Patriarch in fact died in 1439, not in 1440 as the late sixteenth-century repainted fresco indicates. Alessandro Diana (2012, p. 162n33) postulates that the inscription may not have been in the original fifteenth-century fresco on the aisle wall and was added only after the tomb was moved to the right transept at which time Patriarch Joesph's portrait was repainted. This repainted inscription was transcribed with more standard renderings of 1440 in the sepoltuari as MCCCCXL (Sermartelli) and MCCCCXXXX (Rosselli).