Leone Caetani (September 12, 1869 – December 25, 1935), Duke of Sermoneta (also known as Prince Caetani), was an Italian scholar, politician, and historian of the Middle East. Caetani is considered a pioneer in the application of the

historical method Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be draw ...

to sources of the early

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

traditions, which he subjected to minute historical and psychological analysis. He was the father of Italian-Canadian visual artist Sveva Caetani.

Life

Caetani was born in Rome into the prominent and wealthy Caetani family. His father Onorato Caetani, Prince of

Teano Teano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, northwest of Caserta on the main line to Rome from Naples. It stands at the southeast foot of an extinct volcano, Rocca Monfina. Its St. Clement's cathedral is ...

and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

of Sermoneta, was

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs The minister of foreign affairs is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Italy), Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Italy. The office was one of the positions which Italy inherited from the Kingdom of Sardinia where it was the most ancient mi ...

in 1896 in the second di Rudini cabinet; his English mother, Ada Bootle Wilbraham, was a granddaughter of Edward Bootle Wilbraham, 1st Baron Skelmersdale. His paternal grandfather,

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

, had married the Polish

Countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Calixta Rzewuski, whose ancestor Wacław Seweryn Rzewuski had been a well-known Polish orientalist. Caetani developed an interest in foreign languages at an early age. At 15, he began to study

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

on his own. Later he studied

Oriental languages Asia is home to hundreds of languages comprising several families and some unrelated isolates. The most spoken language families on the continent include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Japonic, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turkic, ...

at the University of Rome, under Ignazio Guidi and Giacomo Lignana, with an intensive study of Arabic,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, Persian, Sanskrit and

Syriac language The Syriac language ( ; ), also known natively in its spoken form in early Syriac literature as Edessan (), the Mesopotamian language () and Aramaic (), is an Aramaic#Eastern Middle Aramaic, Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect. Classical Syriac is ...

s (and perhaps also Turkish). Caetani spent many years researching and traveling throughout the Muslim world, gathering material on a wide range of Islamic cultures from

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

the Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultura ...

, the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Central Asia, and southern Russia. Later, one of his disciples was Giorgio Levi Della Vida. He became a corresponding member of the

Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...

in 1911 and a full member in 1919. Later, he left his rich library to the Lincei to create the Caetani foundation for Muslim studies. Caetani also served as a deputy of the Italian Parliament (1909–1913), keeping a radical socialist stance. He married Vittoria Colonna Caetani of the Colonna, daughter of Marcantonio VI

prince of Paliano The title Duke and Prince of Paliano is borne by the head of the elder line of the Colonna family. At times the honour has been borne by several members at once. The Princes also bear many other titles and honorifics. The Princes of Summonte ar ...

, from whom he later separated; in 1917 he succeeded his father as Prince of Teano and Duke of Sermoneta. After the end of his marriage and the rise of Fascism, in August 1921 Caetani decided to emigrate to

Vernon, British Columbia Vernon is a city in the Okanagan region of the British Columbia Interior, Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is northeast of Vancouver. Named after Forbes George Vernon, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly, MLA of British ...

, Canada, with his new partner Ofelia Fabiani and their daughter Sveva. He later became a Canadian citizen. In 1935, the Fascist regime stripped him of his Italian citizenship and expelled him from the

Accademia dei Lincei The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...

; he died of throat cancer on December 24, 1935 in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia. Leone Caetani is laid to rest in the Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Vernon, BC.

Research

Caetani made extensive analysis of sources related to the origins of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic thought between 1904 and 1926 during which he collected and arranged chronologically all known materials related to the origins of Islam. Caetani presented his critical analysis and conclusions regarding what he believed to be inconsistencies, contradictions, and variances in the Islamic sources in his ten-volume work ''Annali dell'Islam''. Caetani claimed that most of the early traditions of Islam could be dismissed as fabrications by later generations of authors. He also suggested that the Arab conquests during the formative era of Islam were driven not by religion but by material want and covetousness.Studi di Orientale (Leone Caetani, p. 369) translated in ''The Expansion of the Early Islamic State'' ( Fred M. Donner, , p. 61): ''The arabs achieved their conquests only with material means and the moral virtues innate in their character; and Islam had nothing to do with these.''

References

Works

* ''Annali dell' Islam'' (Milan, Ulrico Hoepli, 1905–1907), 10 volumes * "Uthman and the Recension of the Koran", ''Muslim World'' 5 (1915), pp. 380–90 * ''Study of the history of the Orient'' (Milan, Ulrico Hoepli, 1914)

External links

Caetani, Leone in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani – Volume 16 (1973)
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050930010903/http://www.iant.com/imam/methodol.txt *
The Caetani Family: Popes, Princes, Scholars and Artists :: Greater Vernon Museum & Archives
at www.vernonmuseum.ca
The Caetani family: The Caetani Family: Popes, Princes, Scholars and Artists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caetani, Leone 1869 births 1935 deaths Politicians from Rome Italian Arabists Italian emigrants to Canada Italian orientalists Scholars of Islam Scholars of medieval Islamic history Members of the Lincean Academy Deaths from cancer in British Columbia