Symon Semeonis

Symon Semeonis (akaSimon FitzSimon or Simon FitzSimmons), 14th century Irish Franciscan friar and author.

Biography

Of Hiberno-Norman origin, Symon is the author of Itinearium Symonis Semeonis ab Hybernia ad Terram Sanctam (The Journey of Symon Semeonis of Ireland to the Holy Land). In 1323 he and his companion friar, Hugo Illuminator (Hugh the Illuminator), undertook a pilgrimage from Clonmel in Ireland to Jerusalem. In his manuscript account he describes his experiences and encounters during that journey.

His encounter with a migrant group ‘the descendants of Cain’ outside the town of Heraklion (Candia) in Crete is probably the earliest surviving description by a Western chronicler of the Romani people in Europe. The account of his experiences in what is now Albania is also one of the earliest written reports of that land to reach Britain.

He received a special passport for Mendicants from the Sultan at a reduced fee. This passport was apparently authenticated by the application of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad's fingerprints. The original manuscript is currently held as MS 407 in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

His surname is now rendered FitzSimon, FitzSimmonds, or Simmonds, and still found in Ireland.

See also

• James of Ireland (fl.1316-1330), companion of Odoric of Pordenone, travelled to Sumatra and China.

Sources

• Itinerarium Symonis Semeonis Ab Hybernia Ad Terrum Sanctam, ed. and translated by Mario Esposito, Dublin, 1960.
• A New History of Ireland, volume one, pp. 453, 460.
• An Early Irish Visitor to the Island of Crete by Conn Murphy, UCC, at Classics Ireland.
• The itineraries of Fr. Simon Fitzsimons-1322-23 and others. Thomas Brygg. (Scroll to last PDF entry)
• http://www.scribd.com/doc/87009/Two-Irish-Travellers-in-Albania-in-1322
• http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=
• http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=