Traversari, Ambrogio 699Illustrative Documents with Introductions and Notes(New
York: Columbia University Press, 1955); K. N. Chaud-
huri, Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Eco-
nomic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1985); Philip D. Curtin,
Cross-Cultural Trade in World History(Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1984); Richard Hodges, Dark Age
Economics: The Origins of Towns and Trade A.D. 500–1000,
2d ed. (London: Duckworth, 1989); Robert S. Lopez, The
Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 950–1350
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971).
Transfiguration The Transfiguration was one of the
major symbolic episodes of Christ’s public life. Jesus
took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up a
mountain, perhaps Mount Tabor in Galilee, where he
was transfigured into GODor something like a divine
being before them. Moses and Elijah on either side
spoke with him about his oncoming Passion at
JERUSALEM. God the father announced that Jesus was his
Son and he should be heard. It became one of the 12
great feasts of the church, commemorated on August 6.
It also became a common image in Christian art to show
Christ’s glory and acceptance of mission, the eclipse of
the LAWof the Old Testament, and the promise of a sec-
ond coming.
See alsoCHRISTOLOGY ANDCHRISTOLOGICAL CONTRO-
VERSY.
Further reading: John Anthony McGuckin, The
Transfiguration of Christ in Scripture and Tradition(Lewis-
ton, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1986); Barbara E. Reid,
The Transfiguration: A Source- and Redaction-Critical Study
of Luke 9:28–36(Paris: Gabalda, 1993).
Transylvania Bounded within the Carpathian Moun-
tains, medieval Transylvania was a region now forming
part of modern-day HUNGARYand ROMANIA. It was ini-
tially populated by Romanians seeking refuge after the
collapse of the Roman Empire from the numerous tribes
who passed through the area, the Gepids, the AVARS, the
BULGARS, the LOMBARDS, the HUNS, and the SLAVS.
Doubtless some of these peoples remained behind or left
evidence of their passing in the human population. From
the 10th century the Hungarians entered the region and
a Hungarian noble class headed by a duke was placed
over a Hungarian and Romanian PEASANTRY. German and
Jewish settlers entered the area in the 13th century, fur-
ther diversifying the population.
Transylvania’s rich deposits of SALTand precious met-
als drew people to the region. The population was con-
verted to the Eastern or Byzantine form of Christianity,
but Hungarian domination was linked with the Catholic
or Western form of Christianity. Missions and the military
orders were sent by the pope to further this conversion in
the 13th century.
The MONGOLSpassed through the country in 1240
and 1241, causing considerable devastation, but they
withdrew in 1241 because of the death of their leader.
For the rest of the century, Transylvania could not be
effectively ruled by the Hungarians. A new dynasty
from the Neapolitan branch of the Angevin family took
over Hungary in 1308. Taking a renewed interest in Tran-
sylvania, they sought further reduction of the peasant
population to burdensome SERFDOM. Threatened by the
OTTOMANS, King Louis the Great of Anjou (r. 1342–82)
tried to regain the loyalty to the Hungarian Crown of the
Germans in Transylvania by granting trading privileges to
the towns and ensuring them of a near-monopoly over
commerce.
After the extinction of the Angevin dynasty, a new
king, Sigismund of Luxembourg (1387–1437), com-
menced the crusade against the Ottomans. The resulting
and oppressive high taxation caused a revolt of the Tran-
sylvanian peasants between 1437 and 1438. A coalition of
nobles put down the revolt, but the situation of serfs
there continued to deteriorate. From 1440 a Transylva-
nian noble of Romanian origin, John HUNYADI, provided
the greatest resistance to the Ottomans. The long reign of
his son Matthias CORVINUS, was taken up with wars and
high taxes. Transylvania suffered rebellions and growing
discontent because of the insecurity of its frontiers. The
policies of Matthias Corvinus and his successors weak-
ened the kingdom and the dominance of its aristocracy,
who grew more incapable of defending Hungary or Tran-
sylvania against the Ottomans for the rest of the 15th
century.
See alsoVLADIII THEIMPALER.
Further reading: Serban Papacostea, Between the
Crusade and the Mongol Empire: The Romanians in the 13th
Century, trans. Liviu Bleoca (Cluj-Napoca: Center for
Transylvanian Studies, Romanian Cultural Foundation,
1998); László Péter, ed., Historians and the History of
Transylvania (New York: Columbia University Press,
1992); Ioan Aurel Pop, The Ethno-Confessional Structure
of Medieval Transylvania and Hungary (Cluj-Napoca:
Romanian Cultural Foundation, 1994); Ioan Aurel Pop,
Romanians and Hungarians from the 9th to the 14th Cen-
tury: The Genesis of the Transylvanian Medieval State
(Cluj-Napoca: Centrul de Studii Transilvane, Fundatia
Cultrala Româna, 1996).Traversari, Ambrogio (Ambrose of Camaldoli)(1386–
1439)Italian humanist, Camaldolese monk, translator
Ambrogio was born at Portico di Romanna in September
of 1386. At the age of 14, he went to FLORENCE to
become a Camaldolese monk in the convent of Santa
Maria degli Angeli. There he learned LATINand GREEK
and taught the sons of Cosimo de’ MEDICIand other
patrician children. He became a friend of Cosimo and a
number of the other humanists in Florence at that time,