Frate Atanasiu di Iaci or Athanasiu da Jaci was a Benedictine monk and historiographer from Aci

Acireale

Acireale is a coastal city and commune in the north-east of the province of Catania, Sicily, Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. It is a diocese, famous for its churches, including the Neo-Gothic St. Peter's Basilica, St...

. He wrote Vinuta di lu re Iapicu in Catania (c.1295), a Sicilian

Sicilian language

Sicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects make up the Extreme-Southern Italian language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento ; and Campania, on the Italian mainland, where it is...

 chronicle

Chronicle

Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...

 (or romance

Romance (genre)

As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...

) of the arrival and stay of James I in Catania

Catania

Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...

 in May 1287. He may also be the author of another Sicilian history, Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia

Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia

Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia, fully Cronica di lu rebellamentu di Sichilia contra re Carlu, is a Sicilian historical tract of the War of the Vespers written around 1290. The anonymous Rebellamentu, probably written at Messina, was ascribed to Atanasiu di Iaci by Pasquale Castorina in 1883...

, written circa 1290, by an anonymous of Messina. Vincenzo di Giovanni suggested that Atanasiu was of Saracen

Saracen

Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

 ancestry.

Vincenzo de Gaetano first expressed doubt about the authenticity of the Vinuta and the historicity of Atanasiu. The Vinuta appears in no earlier work than Pietro Carrera, Delle memorie historiche della città di Cantania (1639). He claimed to have found it in a manuscript of San Nicolò l'Arena, now lost. It was first published by the Pietro Bentivegna of Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

 in their Opuscoli di autori Siciliani (1760). Its authorship was also treated by Antonio Mongitore Biblioteca Sicula (1708). The Vinuta was accepted as authentic by Enrico Sicardi for his 1917 edition. Kenneth Setton

Kenneth Setton

Kenneth Meyer Setton was an American historian and an expert on the history of medieval Europe.- Early life, education and awards :...

 follows him, but notes that though it sometimes adds valuable details to the history of the War of the Sicilian Vespers

War of the Sicilian Vespers

The War of the ' Vespers started with the insurrection of the Sicilian Vespers against Charles of Anjou in 1282 and finally ended with the peace of Caltabellotta in 1302...

, it is frequently untrustworthy. Giulio Bertoni considered it authentic, pointing to the antiquity of its language. If authentic, the Vinuta is an important source for the influence of the Italian languages

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 on Sicilian.

Below is a passage describing James' arrival in Catania, then occupied by the Angevins, mostly Frenchmen, followers of Charles of Anjou:

La vinuta di lu re Japicu a la gitati di Catania, fu a lu primu di Maju di l'anno 1287 all'Ave Maria: trasiu per la porta di Jaci, e fu incuntratu da tutti li gitatini cu' alligrizza; ma chiui di tutti vinia multu malenconicu pirchi havia vidutu multi galeri franzisi vicinu di Catania, e si cridia chi nixianu di lu portu di Catania.

The arrival of the king James at the city of Catania, was on the first of May of the year 1287 to the Hail Mary: he entered by the port of Acireale, and was met by all the citizens with happiness; but above all came many malcontents because they had seen many French galleys near Catania, and it was believed that they had not left from the port of Catania.

The French (franzisi) had landed on the same day between Catania and Syracuse and had begun to besiege Augusta. By June their supplies were running short. In July they were forced to lift their siege of Augusta and their garrison fled Catania.

Editions

• Biondelli, Bernardino (1856). Studi linguìstici. G. Bernardoni.