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SPARAGO de BARCAWho was he? Where did he come from? What was his life like? What kind of man was he? We would like to ask these and many more questions knowing, though, that the answers will be difficult to find. Perhaps some of you, reading this text and knowing the facts from the life of the above mentioned person would like to help us in broadening our knowledge about this outstanding and extremely interesting man. P.CONRADUS EUBEL Vol. I 1198-1431
we find the following record at page 387: First, it shoud be explained that in the quoted work (composed of many volumes) a whole hierarchy of the Catholic Church has been depicted ranked according to seats of dioceses and archidioceses etc. dating from 1198. From the quoted records we learn that Asparago Barca (perhaps born in Barca or coming from there) on June 12, 1212 was elevated to the status of the bishop of Pamplony in Spain. Soon afterwards, in February 1215, he was nominated the archibishop of Tarragony which position he held till March 3, 1233. What happened to him later? Was March 3, 1233 the last day of his life? We are not able to give answers to these questions at the moment. We also do not know what the reference 1) means. We are still unable to explain why being a bishop he was referred to as `Aspargo Barca` whereas being an archibishop he was referred to as `Sparago de Barca`. There is another curiosity. In the church hierarchy lists from that time dignitaries were mentioned by their first names only, names existing at the time. Does that imply that naming `Sparago` (Asparago) was treated as a first name then or perhaps it was a kind of a nickname? Asparago means `asparagus` in Italian. In Spanish `asparagus` is called `esparago`. What is the connection of these names with diffirent versions of a nickname `Sparago`? On anglo-lingual webside www.ca/inpar/jaume_forster.pdf in a publication `James I (The Coqueror) King of Aragon - Chronicle` in a translation by John Foster, we can find mentions of the king`s compatriot who is called there `Esparago, or Sparago de Barca, or de la Barca `. The other publication we have managed to find on the webside http://libro.uca.edu/scp/ - informing us about archibishop Sparago from Tarragony - is a reseach work written in English by Peter Linehan and entitled `Spanish Church and Papacy in the 13th century`. We are sure that in that work a person who knows English very well could find and provide us with a lot of information about archibishop Sparago, a man and a church dignitary. Analysing the occurrence of different though similar names concerning the same man, it seems that we can make an assumption that `Sparago` was the proper one. The Spaniards used to call `Sparago` - `Esparago`, whereas the Italians - `Asparago`. Many questions come to our minds again. It is very intriguing whether other members of the archibishop`s family used to use the same (nick)name. Did he have any offspring ? We all know that in that distant times the clergy could set up homes. The next question concerns the name of the mountain `Monte Sparago` in a small massif called `Mont Ausoni` on the east of harbour Terracina in Italy. What, or perhaps who does it come from? Is there any connection between the archibishop `Sparago` and the Italian family `Sparago` existing at the time and coming from the area of the town Caserte in Campania region? This is our present knowlege about the archibishop Sparago de Barca (or de la Barca). Will we be able to solve some of the above mysteries in the future? The presented description of the clergyman will be either broadened or corrected, depending on information we will be getting. Jacek Szparaga |