No doubt it was
originally Gathalik, but altered in pronunciation by the Arabs.
The term
was applied by Nestorians to their Patriarch; among the Jacobites to the
Mafrian or Metropolitan. The Nestorian Patriarch at this time resided at
Baghdad. (Assemani, vol. iii. pt. 2; Per. Quat. 91, 127.)
The Jacobites, or Jacobins, as they are called by writers of that age (Ar.
Ya'ubkiy), received their name from Jacob Baradaeus or James Zanzale,
Bishop of Edessa (so called, Mas'udi says, because he was a maker of
barda'at or saddle-cloths), who gave a great impulse to their doctrine
in the 6th century. [At some time between the years 541 and 578, he
separated from the Church and became a follower of the doctrine of
Eutyches. - H. C.] The Jacobites then formed an independent Church, which
at one time spread over the East at least as far as Sistan, where they had
a see under the Sassanian Kings. Their distinguishing tenet was
Monophysitism, viz., that Our Lord had but one Nature, the Divine. It
was in fact a rebound from Nestorian doctrine, but, as might be expected
in such a case, there was a vast number of shades of opinion among both
bodies. The chief locality of the Jacobites was in the districts of Mosul,
Tekrit, and Jazirah, and their Patriarch was at this time settled at the
Monastery of St. Matthew, near Mosul, but afterwards, and to the present
day, at or near Mardin. [They have at present two patriarchates: the
Monastery of Zapharan near Baghdad and Etchmiadzin. - H. C.] The Armenian,
Coptic, Abyssinian, and Malabar Churches all hold some shade of the
Jacobite doctrine, though the first two at least have Patriarchs apart.
(Assemani, vol. ii.; Le Quien, II. 1596; Mas'udi, II. 329-330; Per.
Quat. 124-129.)
NOTE 3. - We see here that mosolin or muslin had a very different
meaning from what it has now. A quotation from Ives by Marsden shows it to
have been applied in the middle of last century to a strong cotton cloth
made at Mosul. Dozy says the Arabs use Maucili in the sense of muslin,
and refers to passages in 'The Arabian Nights.' [Bretschneider (Med.
Res. II. p. 122) observes "that in the narrative of Ch'ang Ch'un's
travels to the west in 1221, it is stated that in Samarkand the men of the
lower classes and the priests wrap their heads about with a piece of white
mo-sze. There can be no doubt that mo-sze here denotes 'muslin,' and the
Chinese author seems to understand by this term the same material which we
are now used to call muslin." - H. C.] I have found no elucidation of
Polo's application of mosolini to a class of merchants. But, in a letter
of Pope Innocent IV. (1244) to the Dominicans in Palestine, we find
classed as different bodies of Oriental Christians, "Jacobitae,
Nestoritae, Georgiani, Graeci, Armeni, Maronitae, et Mosolini." (Le
Quien, III. 1342.)
NOTE 4. - "The Curds," says Ricold, "exceed in malignant ferocity all the
barbarous nations that I have seen.... They are called Curti, not
because they are curt in stature, but from the Persian word for
Wolves.... They have three principal vices, viz., Murder, Robbery, and
Treachery." Some say they have not mended since, but his etymology is
doubtful.
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