【Discovery Channelより、以下転載】2冊の本（「ダ・ヴィンチの母は奴隷だったか」「レオナルドの家系図」）で発表された新しく発見された文書によって、ダ・ヴィンチのほとんど知られていない家系図が再構築することが可能になったそうです。
April 9, 2008 -- Leonardo Da Vinci, regarded by many as the greatest genius of the Renaissance, was the son of a humble slave girl and had at least 21 half-siblings, according to compelling new evidence unveiled in Florence, Italy, on Wednesday.
Newly discovered documents published in two books ("Was Leonardo's Mother a Slave?" and "Leonardo's Family Tree," both edited by da Vinci scholars Agnese Sabato and Alessandro Vezzosi) have made it possible to reconstruct da Vinci's little-known family tree.
"Da Vinci's family was indeed a large one. His father Piero married not his mother, but four other women. His mother Caterina was married off to another man and had five children of her own. That's what you would call an enlarged family," Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale in the Tuscan town of Vinci, told Discovery News.
Very little has been known about da Vinci's mother and the circumstances of his birth. The only account dates to a 1457 tax record in which the artist's grandfather listed the members of his family and briefly described his grandson:
"Lionardo, aged 5, the illegitimate child of Ser Piero and Caterina, who at present is married to Acchattabriga di Piero del Vaccha da Vinci."
Beyond this, scholars had very little to go on. While Ser Piero was easily identified as a Florentine notary, nothing was known about Caterina. As legend has it, she was a peasant girl from Vinci.
Now, 30-year-old research conducted by the late director of the Leonardo Library, published by his son Francesco, suggests a completely different scenario.
"Archival research has shown that there isn't any Caterina in Vinci or nearby villages that can be linked to Ser Piero. The only Caterina in Piero's life seems to be a slave girl who lived in the house of his wealthy friend Vanni di Niccolo di Ser Vanni," Cianchi wrote.
Evidence for "the slave Caterina" comes from Vanni's newly discovered will. The wealthy banker named his friend Ser Piero the executor of his will, and left most of his estate to a religious order. He left the slave girl to his wife Agnola and his Florentine house in via Ghibellina to Ser Piero.
"No official document for the liberation of Caterina exists, but something important must have happened at Vanni's death in 1451," Vezzosi said.
The man who would father Leonardo da Vinci did not move into his inherited home right away because Agnola, Vanni's widow, still lived there. It's likely, scholars now believe, that Ser Piero agreed to allow Agnola to remain in the house until she died in exchange for the slave girl Caterina's freedom.
Indeed, records show that Agnola hired a new servant after Vanni's death.
Meanwhile, no trace exists of the slave girl after 1451; she simply disappeared from documents. According to Cianchi's research, Ser Piero did not move into his inherited house until Agnola's death, but there are no records of other inhabitants in the home.
A few months later, on April 15, 1452, Leonardo was born in Vinci. It is known that his mother Caterina married Acchattabriga di Piero del Vaccha da Vinci only a few months after she gave birth.
"The hypothesis that it is the same Caterina that lived in Vanni's house is very strong," Vezzosi said.
The claim is supported by recent research suggesting the Italian genius was of Arabic descent, following analysis of his fingerprint.
"It was common in Renaissance Florence to own slaves from the Middle East and the Balkans. At the time of Leonardo's birth there were more than 550 slaves in Florence, meaning that all the wealthy families had slaves in their houses. The girls were baptized and renamed. The most popular names were Maria, Marta and Caterina," Agnese Sabato said.
If little is known about Caterina's life -- except that her husband might have had a temper (the name Acchattabriga means "ready to pick a quarrel" ) -- researchers have been able to draw a much clearer picture about the private life of Ser Piero.
"Documents tell us that just after Leonardo's birth, Ser Piero, who was about 26 years old, married a young girl named Albiera Amadori. He then married other three times," Elisabetta Ulivi, author of the book on da Vinci's family tree, said.
Ser Piero had at least 16 children -- eight of whom were born in the last 20 years of his life.
Da Vinci seemed to have had a difficult relationship with his half-sisters and brothers.
"Many of Leonardo's travels to Florence were indeed associated with family issues. He had several fights related to money and inheritance," Vezzosi said.
具体的に言うと、ダ・ヴィンチの母カテリーナのことは文献には出てこないらしいのですが、ダ・ヴィンチの父が友人の遺産執行人となっていて、その友人から譲られた家と家に附属した奴隷女を譲り受けているんだって。
そして、その奴隷女がダ・ヴィンチの母らしい。当時のフィレンツェには中東からたくさんのそういった奴隷が来ていたうえに、そういった人々が洗礼を受けて改宗し、新しい洗礼名をつけたのものとしてよくあったのが「マリア」「マルタ」「カテリーナ」で、まさにダ・ヴィンチの母とおぼしき女性の名前と一致するんだそうです。
ほお～。この辺の話は初耳ですね。
あと以前にうちのブログでも既に紹介したが、ダ・ヴィンチの指紋がアラビア系の子孫としての特徴を示していることなども挙げているそうです。
英語で出ているなら、これらの本を読んでみたいけど、イタリア語だろうな、きっと。この記事読んで、以前読んだクレチェマー「天才人」とかに書かれていたことを思い出しました。特定の地域に長く住んでいる名士とか名門の血筋に、外部の血が入った時に、俗に言う「天才」とおぼしき存在が発生する、って書いてありました。
まさにイレギュラーの存在なのですが、社会適応力において欠如する点が多く、その子孫は残さない場合が多い。などなど、まさにレオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチにも当てはまりそう。今後は、そういった観点からも捉えると面白そう。
未だに話題に事欠かない存在なんですね、ダ・ヴィンチって！
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