DON CRISTOFORO CASTELLI - MEDIATOR OF GEORGIA

Abstract

In 1654, Cristoforo Castelli, an aged and ailing figure, a great supporter of Georgia, departed from the region after 22 years and returned to his homeland - Italy. Accompanying him were the remnants crafted with selfless work: letters, ethnographic descriptions, notably paintings, which for Mikel Tamarashvili (Michel Tamarati) since the early 20th century have served as the predominant source for investigating the economic, political, and cultural narrative of 17th-century Georgia.

Cristoforo Castelli tried to reconcile the Georgian king and dukes, to bring peace to the country. Everything that Castelli did (even just listing them would take us too far) was positively appreciated by Georgian kings, dukes and nobility, which he honestly told his readers in his letters.

The diplomatic activity of Cristoforo Castelli is very important and interesting, both in order to establish peace between the kings and princes within the country, and in the letters of contacts with the principalities of Italy, from which it can be seen that he himself sends to Italy with the Pope, the Republic of Venice and the sovereigns of the Duchy of Tuscany, he receives in written and oral information through couriers and missionaries from Italy and conveys them with his evaluations and opinions to the recipients in Georgia.

I should end the article on the diplomatic activity of Cristoforo Castelli with the three letters that were published by Bernadete Majorana in 1990 and were completely unknown to Georgian historians until now. The addressee of the last one, written in Georgian in 1654, is Ferdinando Medici, Archduke of Tuscany. In his summary of the letter deposited in the Medici archives, Castelli refers to other letters, suggesting that the last letter may be part of a larger correspondence. We also see an attempt by Castelli to bring the King of Imereti (West Georgia) and the Archduke of Tuscany closer to each other, but this missionary's noble goal was completely unfounded.

Key words: Cristoforo Castelli; Ferdinando; Alexander; Imereti; Tuscany;