Editing Marco Polo (section)

== Life ==
[[File:Memorials to Marco Polo - Casa Polo - Memorial plaque.jpg|thumb|200px|Commemorative plaque on the site of Casa Polo in Venice, part of the [[Teatro Malibran]] which was built upon Polo's house]]
[[File:VENEZIA MILION.JPG|thumb|200px|{{lang|it|Corte Seconda del Milion}}, Venice, next to Polo's house, is named after the nickname of Polo, {{lang|it|Il Milione}}]]

=== Family origin ===
Marco Polo was born around 1254 in [[Venice]],<ref name="PeklicPolo"/><ref name="Bergreen25">{{Harvnb|Bergreen|2007|p=25}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=x-PZdFbG6dEC&pg=PA24 online copy pp. 24–25])</ref><ref name="Tre">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Pòlo, Marco |encyclopedia=[[Treccani]] |publisher=Istituto Treccani |quote=Viaggiatore veneziano (Venezia o Curzola 1254 - Venezia 1324) |language=it |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/marco-polo |access-date=17 October 2023}}</ref><ref name="GG15">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Polo, Marco |encyclopedia=[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]] |date=2015 |last=Gullino |first=Giuseppe |publisher=Istituto Treccani |volume=84 |language=it |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/marco-polo_(Dizionario-Biografico) |quote=Nacque a Venezia nel 1254. Suo padre, Nicolò di Andrea, del quale non si conosce la data di nascita, esercitò per lungo tempo la mercatura a Costantinopoli, assieme al fratello Matteo. Risiedeva, in Venezia, probabilmente nella contrada di San Severo; non è noto il nome della moglie. |access-date=17 October 2023}}</ref> but the exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown.{{sfn|Wood|1998|pp=111–113}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marco-Polo|title=Marco Polo &#124; Biography, Travels, & Influence|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=4 January 2024 }}</ref><ref name="HKJ">{{Citation|last=Hinds|first=Kathryn|title=Venice and Its Merchant Empire|year=2002|place=New York|publisher=Benchmark Books}}</ref>{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|pp=5–6}}<ref name="PeklicPolo">{{cite journal |title=Marko Polo – Svjetski Putnik |trans-title=Marco Polo – The World Traveler |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=102234 |first=Ivan |last=Peklić |journal=Metodički Ogledi |volume=17 |issue=1–2 |year=2011 |page=50 |language=hr}}</ref>  The ''[[Travels of Marco Polo]]'' contains some basic information concerning Marco Polo's Venetian family and his birth in Venice; the book states that Marco's father, the travelling merchant [[Niccolò Polo]], returned to visit his family in his hometown of Venice around 1269 and there found out that his wife, whom he had left pregnant, had died and left a 15-year-old son named Marco.<ref>Benedetto, L. F. (2014). The Travels of Marco Polo. Taylor & Francis. p. 8.</ref>

In contrast to the general consensus, there are theories suggesting that Marco Polo's birthplace was the island of [[Korčula]]<ref name="EAM98">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Polo, Marco |encyclopedia=Enciclopedia dell' Arte Medievale |date=1998 |last=Chiappori |first=M.G. |publisher=Istituto Treccani |quote=nato nella città lagunare o a Curzola, in Dalmazia, nel 1254 e morto a Venezia nel 1324 |language=it |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/marco-polo_%28Enciclopedia-dell%27-Arte-Medievale%29/ |access-date=17 October 2023}}</ref><ref name="DS11">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Polo, Marco |encyclopedia=Dizionario di Storia |date=2011 |publisher=Istituto Treccani |quote=Venezia o Curzola 1254-Venezia 1324 |language=it |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/marco-polo_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29/ |access-date=17 October 2023}}</ref><ref name="PeklicPolo"/><ref name="Tre"/>{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=24}}{{sfn|Brook|2010|p=24}} or [[Constantinople]]<ref name="PeklicPolo"/>{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=14}} but such hypotheses failed to gain acceptance among most scholars and have been countered by other studies.{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=5}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=The curious case of Marco Polo from Korčula: An example of invented tradition|journal= Journal of Marine and Island Cultures|volume=2|pages=20–28|doi= 10.1016/j.imic.2013.05.001|year=2013|last1=Orlić|first1=Olga|issue= 1|doi-access=free|bibcode= 2013JMICu...2...20O}}</ref>

=== Nickname {{lang|it|Milione}} ===
He was nicknamed {{lang|it|Milione}} during his lifetime (which in Italian literally means 'Million'). The Italian title of his book was Il Libro di Marco Polo soprannominato Milione, which means "The Book of Marco Polo, nicknamed 'Milione'"". According to the 15th-century humanist [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio]], his fellow citizens awarded him this nickname when he came back to Venice because he kept on saying that Kublai Khan's wealth was counted in millions. More precisely, he was nicknamed {{lang|it|Messer Marco Milioni}} (Mr Marco Millions).<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tBUnTVojIcUC Giovan Battista Ramusion, Delle navigationi et viaggi Vol. II]'', Giunti, Venezia, 1574.</ref>

However, since also his father Niccolò was nicknamed {{lang|it|Milione}},<ref>Marco Polo, Il Milione, [[De Agostini|Istituto Geografico DeAgostini]], 1965, p.22</ref> 19th-century philologist Luigi Foscolo Benedetto was persuaded that {{lang|it|Milione}} was a shortened version of {{lang|it|Emilione}}, and that this nickname was used to distinguish Niccolò's and Marco's branch from other Polo families.<ref>[[Luigi Foscolo Benedetto|Benedetto, L. F]].: Marco Polo, il Milione, Firenze, 1928 in Marco Polo, Il Milione, [[De Agostini|Istituto Geografico DeAgostini]], 1965, p.22</ref><ref name="allulli">{{lang|it|... volendosi ravvisare nella parola "Milione" la forma ridotta di un diminutivo arcaico "Emilione" che pare sia servito a meglio identificare il nostro Marco distinguendolo per tal modo da tutti i numerosi Marchi della sua famiglia.}} ([[Ranieri Allulli]], ''MARCO POLO E IL LIBRO DELLE MERAVIGLIE – Dialogo in tre tempi del giornalista Qualunquelli Junior e dell'astrologo Barbaverde'', Milano, Mondadori, 1954, p.26)</ref>

=== Early life and Asian travel ===
{{See also|Niccolò and Maffeo Polo|Europeans in Medieval China}}

[[File:Marco Polo Mosaic from Palazzo Tursi.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Mosaic of Marco Polo displayed in the Palazzo Doria-Tursi, [[Genoa]], Italy]]
His father, [[Niccolò and Maffeo Polo|Niccolò Polo]], a merchant, traded with the [[Near East]], becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige.<ref name="Britannica571"/><ref name="WB">{{Harvnb|Parker|2004|pp=648–49}}</ref> Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage before Marco's birth.<ref name="WB"/><ref name="Italiani nel sistema solare">[https://books.google.com/books?id=TiTXdptskSsC&dq=marco+polo+15+settembre+1254&pg=PA67 Italiani nel sistema solare] di Michele T. Mazzucato</ref> In 1260,<ref>According to Marco Polo's biographer Alvise Zorzi, Niccolò and Maffeo had decided to leave Constantinople after the fall of the [[Latin Empire]] of Constantinople, therefore, after 1261. {{Cite book |title=La Repubblica del Leone. Storia di Venezia |trans-title=The Lion's Republic. History of Venice |last=Zorzi |first=Alvise |publisher=[[Bompiani]] |location=Milan |date=2001 |page=156 |isbn=88-452-9136-7 |language=it}}</ref> Niccolò and Maffeo, while residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the [[Latin Empire]], foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away.<ref name="Britannica571">{{Harvnb|Britannica|2002|p=571}}</ref> According to ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', they passed through much of Asia, and met with [[Kublai Khan]], a Mongol ruler and founder of the [[Yuan dynasty]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch.1–9}}</ref> 

Almost nothing is known about the childhood of Marco Polo until he was fifteen years old, except that he probably spent part of his childhood in Venice.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=36}}{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=24}}<ref name="Rugoff">{{cite book |title=Marco Polo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=if-BBgAAQBAJ |first=Milton |last=Rugoff |publisher=New Word City |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-61230-838-8}}</ref> Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and an aunt and uncle raised him.<ref name="WB"/> He received a good education, learning mercantile subjects including foreign currency, appraising, and the handling of cargo ships;<ref name="WB"/> he learned little or no [[Latin]].<ref name="Britannica571"/> His father later married Floradise Polo (née Trevisan).<ref name="Poljica">{{cite journal |title=Putopisac Marko Polo |trans-title=Travel writer Marco Polo |url=http://www.korcula.net/mpolo/mpolo_pav_text.htm |first=Anđelko |last=Pavešković |journal=Godišnjak Poljičkog Dekanata "Poljica" |issue=23 |year=1998 |pages=38–66}}</ref>

In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to their families in Venice, meeting young Marco for the first time.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=36}} In 1271, during the rule of [[Doge (title)|Doge]] [[Lorenzo Tiepolo]], Marco Polo (at seventeen years of age), his father, and his uncle set off for Asia on the series of adventures that Marco later documented in his book.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=37}}

[[File:Caravane Marco Polo.jpg|thumb|A close-up of the [[Catalan Atlas]] depicting Marco Polo travelling to the East during the ''[[Pax Mongolica]]'']]
They sailed to [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] and later rode on their camels to the Persian port [[Hormuz, Iran|Hormuz]]. During the first stages of the journey, they stayed for a few months in Acre and were able to speak with Archdeacon [[Pope Gregory X|Tedaldo Visconti of Piacenza]]. The Polo family, on that occasion, had expressed their regret at the long lack of a pope, because on their previous trip to China they had received a letter from Kublai Khan to the Pope, and had thus had to leave for China disappointed. During the trip, however, they received news that after 33 months of vacation, finally, the [[Conclave]] had elected the new Pope and that he was exactly the archdeacon of Acre. The three of them hurried to return to the Holy Land, where the new Pope entrusted them with letters for the "Great Khan", inviting him to send his emissaries to Rome. To give more weight to this mission he sent with the Polos, as his legates, two [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] fathers, Guglielmo of Tripoli and Nicola of Piacenza.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it//enciclopedia/beato-gregorio-x_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)|title=GREGORIO X, beato in "Enciclopedia dei Papi"|website=treccani.it}}</ref>

They continued overland until they arrived at [[Kublai Khan]]'s palace in [[Shangdu]], China (then known as [[Cathay]]). By this time, Marco was 21 years old.{{cn|date=October 2024}} Impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility, Kublai appointed him to serve as his foreign emissary to [[Delhi Sultanate|India]] and [[History of Myanmar#Bagan dynasty (849–1297)|Burma]]. He was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout his empire and in Southeast Asia, (such as in present-day [[Indonesia]], [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Vietnam]]),<ref name=Rongguang/><ref name=Kleinhenz/> but also entertained the Khan with stories and observations about the lands he saw. As part of this appointment, Marco travelled extensively inside China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years.<ref name=WorldAtlas/>

Kublai initially refused several times to let the Polos return to Europe, as he appreciated their company and they became useful to him.{{cn|date=October 2024}} However, around 1291, he finally granted permission, entrusting the Polos with his last duty: accompany the Mongol princess [[Kököchin]], who was to become the consort of [[Arghun Khan]], in Persia.<ref name="Igor"/><ref name="ShaanxiChronicles">{{cite web | title=二、欧洲 |trans-title=Volume 1 - Foreign affairs, Chapter 4 - Before 1840, 4.2 Europe | website=Office of Shaanxi Local Chronicles | url=http://dfz.shaanxi.gov.cn/sqzlk/xbsxsz/szdyl/wsz/201107/t20110715_701024.html | quote=在中国住过十七年之久的马可·波罗一行，久游思乡。恰巧波斯汗阿鲁浑派使臣进谒忽必烈，告以妃子死去，请求赐婚。忽必烈命以阔阔真公主下嫁阿鲁浑汗。马可·波罗奉使陪送公主去波斯，从泉州出发经陆上道路，于1294或1295年左右回到威尼斯故乡。 |access-date=13 Oct 2024}}</ref><ref name="Zhang">{{cite web | title=馬可孛羅是誰？ | trans-title=Who is Marco Polo?| last=Zhang |first=Jinxian | website=中國文化研究院 | date=18 September 2020 | url=https://chiculture.org.hk/en/node/266 | access-date=13 October 2024 | quote=馬可孛羅三人居留中國十七年，多次請求回國，沒有獲准。後來伊兒汗阿魯渾的王妃病逝，忽必烈便遣派闊闊真公主下嫁阿魯渾。阿魯渾的使者 … 請求大汗派他們一同護送闊闊真。忽必烈答應這一要求，同時命馬可孛羅等回歐洲，轉送他致羅馬教皇和英、法等國國王的信件。1291年，馬可孛羅等人乘船從泉州啟程，經爪哇、印度洋，到達波斯灣沿岸的伊兒汗國。當時阿魯渾已死，闊闊真按照蒙古風俗嫁給阿魯渾之子合贊。馬可孛羅等人 … 1295年回到故鄉威尼斯。}}</ref> When the Polos arrived to Persia, they learned that Arghun Khan died, and Kököchin eventually became a wife of his son [[Ghazan]]. After leaving the princess, the Polos travelled overland to Constantinople. They later decided to return to their home.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

They returned to Venice in 1295, after 24 years, with many riches and treasures. They had travelled almost {{convert|15000|mi|-3}}.<ref name="WB"/>

=== Genoese captivity and later life ===
[[File:Marco Polo - costume tartare.jpg|thumb|upright|Polo wearing a [[Tartary|Tartar]] outfit, print from the 18th century]]
Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295 with his fortune converted into [[gemstone]]s. At this time, Venice was at war with the [[Republic of Genoa]].<ref name="Donald M. Nicol219">Nicol 1992, p. 219</ref> Polo armed a galley equipped with a [[trebuchet]]<ref name="pierriere">Yule, ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', London, 1870: reprinted by Dover, New York, 1983.</ref> to join the war. He was probably caught by Genoans in a skirmish in 1296, off the [[Anatolia]]n coast between [[Adana]] and the [[Gulf of Alexandretta]]<ref>According to fr. Jacopo d'Aqui'', Chronica mundi libri imaginis''</ref> (and not during the [[battle of Curzola]] (September 1298), off the Dalmatian coast,{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|pp=28–36}} a claim which is due to a later tradition (16th century) recorded by [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio]]<ref>Polo, Marco; Latham, Ronald (translator) (1958). ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', p. 16. New York: Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-14-044057-7}}.</ref>{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|pp=8, 12, 28–36}}).

He spent several months of his imprisonment dictating a detailed account of his travels to a fellow inmate, [[Rustichello da Pisa]],<ref name="WB" /> who incorporated tales of his own as well as other collected anecdotes and current affairs from China. The book soon spread throughout Europe in [[manuscript]] form, and became known as ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]'' ([[Italian language|Italian]] title: '''''Il Milione''''', lit. "The Million", deriving from Polo's nickname "Milione". Original title in [[Franco-Italian]] : ''Livres des Merveilles du Monde''). It depicts the Polos' journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into the inner workings of the [[Far East]], including China, India, and [[Kamakura period|Japan]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bram|1983}}</ref>

Polo was finally released from captivity in August 1299,<ref name="WB" /> and returned home to Venice, where his father and uncle in the meantime had purchased a large [[Palace#Italy|palazzo]] in the zone named ''contrada San Giovanni Crisostomo'' (Corte del Milion).{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=332}} For such a venture, the Polo family probably invested profits from trading, and even many gemstones they brought from the East.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=332}} The company continued its activities and Marco soon became a wealthy merchant. Marco and his uncle Maffeo financed other expeditions, but likely never left Venetian provinces, nor returned to the [[Silk Road]] and Asia.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=333}} Sometime before 1300, his father Niccolò died.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=333}} In 1300, he married Donata Badoèr, the daughter of Vitale Badoèr, a merchant.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|pp=332–33}} They had three daughters, [[Fantina Polo|Fantina]] (married Marco Bragadin), Bellela (married Bertuccio Querini), and Moreta.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=333, 338}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Power|2007|p=87}}</ref> In 2022, it was found that Polo first had a daughter named Agnese (b. 1295/1299 - d. 1319) from a partnership or marriage which ended before 1300.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unive.it/pag/16584/?tx_news_pi1[news]=11938&tx_news_pi1[controller]=News&tx_news_pi1[action]=detail|title=Agnese, the unknown daughter of Marco Polo|language=it|website=[[Ca' Foscari University of Venice]]|date=7 February 2022}}</ref>

[[Pietro d'Abano]], a philosopher, doctor and astrologer based in [[Padua]], reports having spoken with Marco Polo about what he had observed in the vault of the sky during his travels. Marco told him that during his return trip to the [[South China Sea]], he had spotted what he describes in a drawing as a star "shaped like a sack" (in [[Latin]]: ''ut sacco'') with a big tail (''magna habens caudam''); most likely a [[comet]]. Astronomers agree that there were no comets sighted in Europe at the end of the 13th century, but there are records about a comet sighted in China and Indonesia in 1293.<ref name="rhinoresourcecenter.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/135/1353458473.pdf|title=Jensen, Jørgen. "The World's most diligent observer." Asiatische Studien 51.3 (1997): 719–728.|accessdate=1 June 2024}}</ref> This circumstance does not appear in [[The Travels of Marco Polo|Polo's book of travels]]. Peter D'Abano kept the drawing in his volume ''Conciliator Differentiarum, quæ inter Philosophos et Medicos Versantur''. Marco Polo gave Pietro other astronomical observations he made in the [[Southern Hemisphere]], and also a description of the [[Sumatran rhinoceros]], which are collected in the ''Conciliator''.<ref name="rhinoresourcecenter.com" />

In 1305, he is mentioned in a Venetian document among local sea captains regarding the payment of taxes.<ref name="Poljica" /> His relation with a certain Marco Polo, who in 1300 was mentioned in relation to riots against the aristocratic government, and who escaped the death penalty, who was also mentioned in relation to riots from 1310 led by [[Bajamonte Tiepolo]] and Marco Querini, among whose rebels were Jacobello and Francesco Polo from another family branch, is unclear.<ref name="Poljica" /> Polo is clearly mentioned again after 1305 in Maffeo's testament from 1309 to 1310, in a 1319 document according to which he became owner of some estates of his deceased father, and in 1321, when he bought part of the family property of his wife Donata.<ref name="Poljica" />

=== Death ===
[[File:Chiesa di San Lorenzo.jpg|thumb|''[[San Lorenzo, Venice|San Lorenzo]]'' church in the [[sestiere]] of [[Castello, Venice|Castello]] ([[Venice]]), where Polo was buried. The photo shows the church as it is today, after the 1592 rebuilding.]]

In 1323, Polo was confined to bed due to illness.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=339}} On 8 January 1324, despite physicians' efforts to treat him, Polo was on his deathbed.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} To write and certify the will, his family requested Giovanni Giustiniani, a priest of San Procolo. His wife, Donata, and his three daughters were appointed by him as [[Executor|co-executrices]].{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} The church was entitled by law to a portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of [[San Lorenzo, Venice|San Lorenzo]], the place where he wished to be buried.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He also set free Peter, a [[Tatars|Tartar]] [[slave|servant]], who may have accompanied him from Asia,<ref>{{Harvnb|Britannica|2002|p=573}}</ref> and to whom Polo bequeathed 100 lire of Venetian denari.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=341}}

He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, among individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He also wrote off multiple debts including 300&nbsp;lire that his sister-in-law owed him, and others for the convent of [[San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice|San Giovanni]], [[Church of San Polo, Venice|San Paolo of the Order of Preachers]], and a cleric named [[Friar]] Benvenuto.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He ordered 220&nbsp;[[Solidus (coin)|soldi]] be paid to Giovanni Giustiniani for his work as a notary and his prayers.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|pp=340–41}}

The will was not signed by Polo, but was validated by the then-relevant "[[signum manus]]" rule, by which the testator had only to touch the document to make it legally valid.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=341}}<ref name="Marciana">Biblioteca Marciana, the institute that holds Polo's original copy of his testament. [http://marciana.venezia.sbn.it/admin/filemanager/file/UserFiles/File/testamento-polo.txt Venezia.sbn.it] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206135126/http://marciana.venezia.sbn.it/admin/filemanager/file/UserFiles/File/testamento-polo.txt |date=6 December 2010 }}</ref> Due to the Venetian law stating that the day ends at sunset, the exact date of Marco Polo's death cannot be determined, but according to some scholars it was between the sunsets of 8 and 9 January 1324.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=342}} [[Biblioteca Marciana]], which holds the original copy of his testament, dates the testament on 9 January 1323, and gives the date of his death at some time in June 1324.<ref name="Marciana" />