Chivalric literature

The concept of the gentleman amateur was, and remains, an important aspect of upper and middle-class Victorian and Edwardian male identity. Although he remains a significant literary presence, the form and length of time the gentleman amateur remained a cultural influence in society is contested.                                                     

This article examines one realm of this social constructs influence - sport - in terms of the social and philosophical origins of these titles, what they meant in practice and the repercussions their use had on class cultures, British (English) sporting values and success. It proposes that the gentleman amateur - despite the long-term damage inflicted by such men - remains a major philosophical, ideological and physical influence upon British sport today.

Inviare i dattiloscritti e i volumi per recensione, omaggio o cambio a «Italianistica», presso Dipartimento di Studi Italianistici, Facoltà di Lingue, Via dei Mille 15, i 56126 Pisa, tel. e fax **39 050 553088 * «Italianistica» is a Peer-Reviewed Journal Saggistica siderazioni che l'A. sviluppa all'interno del saggio sulle strategie promozionali affidate al 'paratesto' e sul progressivo incremento della voce femminile in una zona così importante per la cultura libraria rinascimentale. Eugenio Refini Marco Praloran, Le lingue del racconto. Studi su Boiardo e Ariosto, Roma, Bulzoni, 2009, pp. 258.

Karel (Charlemagne), Elegast, and Eggeric are the three main protagonists of the medieval Dutch epos Karel ende Elegast. Each of them is a knight, but represents different characteristics. The Monarch, the Outlaw, and the Traitor share some chivalric values but present contrasts in their behaviour. This article examines these three characters and their relationships to chivalry. It focuses on the image of chivalry in the epos, and not on the historical aspects of knighthood. As it is one of the fi rst publications in Poland on Middle Dutch texts, it also outlines the chivalric literature in the medieval Low Countries.

At the mid point of the sixteenth century, a Neapolitan gentleman, Federico Grisone, published, for the first time, a printed book about the art of training the horse “for the use of war” and on the secrets to “emend his defects”. The work was a huge and immediate success and was soon emulated by other authors. The new literary genre of equestrian treatises was thus born and it’s tradition, with ups and downs, became alive and remains vital up to this day. It is no coincidence that this first work was printed in Italy because, between the fifteenth and sixteenth century, it was in that country that a new culture of the court, in which horse riding had a key role, was developed. During this time, Italian riders were sought out by the members of European courts and the scions of the European aristocracy ventured to Italy to perfect their skill in the art of riding with renowned masters. Following the thread of equestrian treatises, this book traces the history of Italian and European equitation, recounting the rich cultural implications, the evolution of the techniques, and the many connections with the great events of European history. It is a story full of characters surrounded by an aura of legendary skill, of disputes between opposing schools, and of memorable deeds. It is a story that goes from the sixteenth century until the early twentieth century, when again an Italian, Federico Caprilli, revolutionized the riding world, creating the jumping technique still in use today.
http://worksofchivalry.com/the-book-2/

Más hemos aprendido a vivir de los animales que de los hombres, más de los rústicos que de los doctos. Las artes de reinar que inventó la especulación hicieron tiranos, y antes derribaron que levantaron imperios. Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, Corona gótica, prologue to the reader Some twenty years ago, Paul Julian Smith opened his discussion of the body in Hispanic literature through the analysis of two emblems in Covarrubias' 1610 Emblemas morales, one of a siren, the other of a bearded lady. After pointing out the obvious monstrosity that the sexing and/or de-sexing of the figures entails, Smith reflects on the less obvious discursive effects of these images. In the second emblem, in particular, the verses bespeak the body's meaning itself, rendering the articulation of the corporeal and the rhetorical evident: "Soy hic, et haec, et hoc. Yo me declaro, / Soy varon, soy muger, soy un tercero, / Que no es uno ni otro, ni está claro / Qual destas cosas sea. Soy tercero / De los que como a monstro horrendo y raro / Me tienen por siniestro y mal aguero / Aduierta cada qual que me ha mirado, / Que es otro yo, si viue afeminado." [I am hic, and haec, and hoc. I declare/decline myself. I am man, I am woman, I am a third who is neither one nor the other, nor is it clear which of these things I am. I am a third such as those horrendous and rare monsters taken for sinister and ill-fortuned. Take note each who has seen me, that it/(s)he is another I, if living as effeminate.] 1 Here, Smith remarks, "biological categories are traced back to their grammatical equivalents," in a correspondence often invoked in early modern culture, allowing "freedom of movement

En esta obra se reúne una muestra significativa de aquellas referencias sobre edificios y espacios mágicos que aparecen en los libros de caballerías castellanos. La selección del cuerpo textual se ha realizado sobre obras con tres ediciones conocidas, como mínimo, durante el período comprendido entre los años 1508 y 1588. Así, el estudio comprende elementos textuales de obras como el Amadís de Gaula, Palmerín de Olivia, Primaleón, Floriseo, Lepolemo. El Caballero de la Cruz, Don Florindo, entre otras.

Además de presentar los contenidos recurrentes en las obras, Stefano Neri, doctorado en Lingüística y Literaturas Comparadas en la Universidad de Verona, realiza una lectura integral de los episodios donde aparecen estos elementos y muestra su relevancia en la obra, ya sea por su extensión, por aparecer en lugares destacados del relato o por formar parte de las principales líneas de desarrollo narrativo.

Los sucesos ambientados en un lugar o un edificio mágico son muy importantes en el proceso de aprendizaje simbolizado por el arquetipo del héroe y en su propio discurso narrativo. Estos lugares suelen acompañar algún estado del héroe: la iniciación, la investidura caballeresca, la revelación del linaje, el enamoramiento, etc. El autor intenta mostrar el papel narrativo de los edificios encantados y sus matices temáticos.

Sumario

Introducción.

1. «Un mundo de deleites abreviado»:
Aproximación al tema de las arquitecturas maravillosas.

2. Los castillos encantados.

3. Las cuevas mágicas.

4. Los jardines deleitosos.

5. Las arquitecturas maravillosas ''móviles''.

6. La residencia de un sabio.

7. La prueba.

8. Arquitectura maravillosa como prisión.

9. Arquitectura maravillosa como alcova de amores prohibidos.

Apendice.

Bibliografía.

Il poema che cammina parla dello strettissimo rapporto tra lettera-tura cavalleresca e opera dei pupi: un lungo viaggio che, passando per tempi e luoghi diversi, porta Orlando, Rinaldo e gli altri protago-nisti dei poemi in ottava rima a camminare davvero, sul palcosceni-co dei "teatrini". L'opera dei pupi rappresenta una parte fondamentale e fi nora tra-scurata nella storia della ricezione della letteratura cavalleresca, dei grandi capolavori come dei poemi minori. Allo stesso modo, il rapporto con la parola scritta è un ambito ancora poco studiato ma centrale dell'opera dei pupi. Basato su ricerche di prima mano sulle stampe, i copioni e le testimonianze orali, il libro esamina tutti i pas-saggi fra la letteratura cavalleresca e l'opera dei pupi: dai poemi in ottava rima scritti nel XV e nel XVI secolo alle riscritture in prosa di Giusto Lodico e Giuseppe Leggio e poi ai copioni dei pupari di Paler-mo, Catania e Puglia; dall'opera dei pupi tradizionale alle trasforma-zioni e innovazioni degli anni Sessanta e Settanta; fi no alle nuove e originali soluzioni dei pupari attivi ai nostri giorni. Anna Carocci è dottore di ricerca in Italianistica presso la Sapienza Università di Roma e cultore della materia in Letteratura Italiana presso l'Uni-versità degli Studi Roma Tre. Si occupa di letteratura cavalleresca e di editoria popolare del Cinquecento. Tra i suoi lavori si ricorda La lezione di Boiardo. Il poema cavalleresco dopo l'Inamoramento de

dans les chansons de croisade lyriques françaises et occitanes L'engagement personnel du chrétien ou du croisé en vue de la croisade outre-mer tel qu'il est mis en scène dans les chansons lyriques de croisade appelle une série de remarques. Cet engagement à partir en croisade, au secours du Christ, auquel les auteurs appellent et/ ou dont ils font la louange, est celui avant tout, d'un devoir moral du chrétien. Le poète-prédicateur se fait la voix de l'appel, presque sacerdotal, qui s'impose à celui qui souhaite faire une bonne vie pour une bonne mort, au nom de l'amour vrai. Cet appel à la croisade, ou pèlerinage outre-mer, ne s'impose au chrétien dans le corpus lyrique français et occitan que très rarement sous le formalisme du serment. La principale raison à cela est que ces textes d'exhortation sont une invitation, un rappel des devoirs de chacun, et non, sauf exception, l'expression de la condition d'un seul. On distinguera dans le cadre de cette communication trois grands types de discours relatifs à l'engagement du chrétien ou du croisé : le discours sur l'amour vrai (ou la dévotion au Christ par la croisade), les difficultés amoureuses du croisé (laisser sa Dame, choisir entre deux sortes d'amour), et enfin l'engagement rompu (la promesse -le serment ? -de partir, prononcé et jamais mis en oeuvre).

L’impresa del Pro bono malum, stampata all’inizio della princeps dell’ Orlando furioso e presente in varia misura anche nelle edizioni successive, è oggi per lo più interpretata come allusione al problema morale dell’ingratitudine. Il saggio non contesta tale interpretazione ma vuole mostrare che questo tema, lungi dall’essere peregrino, ispira tra Quattro e Cinquecento un vivace dibattito di cui si possono riconoscere le tracce anche nel poema di Ariosto. Dopo aver presentato sinteticamente le posizioni di alcuni degli autori che trattano questo tema (Giovanni Antonio Campano, Giovanni Pontano, Luigi Pulci, Vespasiano da Bisticci, Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, Lilio Gregorio Giraldi), lo studio propone un’analisi dell’Orlando furioso che evidenzia lo stretto rapporto che s’instaura nel poema fra la sistematica illustrazione narrativa del diffuso problema dell’ingratitudine, e più in generale dell’ingiusta retribuzione, e la rappresentazione degli effetti passionali di questo vizio, affidata ai numerosi “lamenti” e “furori” che punteggiano il racconto. Scegliendo di concentrarsi sul fenomeno particolare dell’ingratitudine amorosa, tuttavia, Ariosto sottolinea anche ironicamente quanto può esserci di soggettivo o ingenuo nella denuncia di questo vizio, e rivela i limiti di un’interpretazione puramente morale dei comportamenti umani. Il saggio si conclude con un’analisi dell’episodio del viaggio straordinario di Astolfo (Orlando furioso XXXIV-XXXV), in cui questo tema ha grande rilievo, e in particolare del racconto di Lidia, non riducibile secondo l’autore alla funzione di exemplum d’ingratitudine.

A peculiar aspect of manuscript variation in the textual tradition of Chrétien’s romances concerns the description of affective states which define the emotional responses of characters to natural or social circumstances in which they are immersed. The fact that the textual tradition presents peculiar readings of different manuscripts in respect to emotion-related circumstances shows that medieval scribes are likely to have interfered with the emotional tone of specific episodes according to their own understandings of the reason why characters might act as they do. Presented data suggest that they had an active understanding and involvement in Chrétien’s empirical realism which revolves around the truth of what characters actually felt, and what the readers felt and keep feeling with them.

La Revista de Literatura Medieval, se publica en un volumen anual. Contiene estudios, notas y textos de interés sobre literatura de la Edad Media del occidente europeo. Su objetivo es el de acoger todas las manifestaciones del pensamiento en torno a la literatura medieval. Los originales pueden ser enviados en cualquier lengua románica de carácter científico (gallego, portugués, catalán, español, francés, italiano y rumano), en alemán y en inglés. Para la aceptación de los trabajos tres especialistas externos deciden la idoneidad para la publicación.

This article explores the role of hunting birds in the definition of the knight in twelfth-and thirteenth-century French chivalric literature. After some introductory remarks on the identity-shaping role of hawks in the hunting practices of medieval aristocracy, the article focuses on the multi-faceted identity correlation between knights and hawks across romance and epic poems. The analysis of episodes drawn from various texts provides evidence of three levels of this human/animal relationship: the use of hawks as aristocratic and chivalric badges (Octavian, Enfances Vivien, Guillaume d'Angleterre​); the use of hawks as visual doubles of knights (​ Anseÿs de Metz​ , Erec et Enide, Lai de ​ Yonec); the representation of the link between knight and hawk as a flow of actions and values going in both directions of the human/animal divide (Jean Renart's ​ L'Escoufle​). Through this analysis, the study demonstrates that chivalric literature established between knights and hawks a multi-layered and twofold identity shift, which contributed to convey the ambiguities of the knightly ethical model.

Although George R.R. Martin’s Land of Ice and Fire series, and the accompanying HBO television show Game of Thrones, are set in the fantasy land of Westeros, there can be little doubt of its correlation with the medieval world. The aesthetic of the show is rooted in the medieval past, and many of Game of Thrones’ elements mirror in particular the tropes of chivalric romance. The importance of medieval chivalry as an underpinning for the narrative of these texts is therefore clear. But rather than privileging the chivalric ideal, Game of Thrones instead deliberately deconstructs and ultimately undermines the construct of the medieval chivalric hero. It does so in a number of ways. One of these is through the use of various characters who act as knightly ‘others’, those who do not conform to accepted ideas of the medieval hero. Two such characters share an unlikely and somewhat prolonged relationship as they journey through war-torn Westeros – Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister.

Tradução para Português dos primeiros vinte capítulos, a partir do texto castelhano de Garcí Rodríguez de Montalvo.  Os capítulos XI a XVIII e XX foram traduzidos pelos alunos do Mestrado em Estudos Portugueses de 2006/20007 (e posteriormente revistos e uniformizados por mim), alunos cujos nomes serão indicados na nota final e a quem agradeço a colaboração e o (entusiástico) empenho. A tradução dos restantes capítulos é de minha autoria. No final deste ficheiro, o leitor encontrará ainda uma breve nota sobre o romance e os problemas que coloca – autoria, nacionalidade, etc. –, bem como sobre os critérios seguidos nesta tradução.

Philip’s History also contributes to current debate amongst historians and particularly the investigations into military conduct during the crusading period. For example one of the current movements in historical consensus at present is the notion that the Crusader States were not as diminished and vulnerable in the thirteenth century as has previously been thought. Some locations such as Antioch and John d’Ibelins’ Beirut seem to have been more prosperous than in the previous century.  Philip’s text depicts a large scale civil war in which the positions of three powerful monarchs are involved (King of Jerusalem, King of Cyprus, and the Holy Roman Emperor). Military forces are not only gathered from Germany, Italy, Cyprus and Syria but the conflict itself lasts for fourteen years. An all but collapsed state could not support such an effort and the fact that wealthy barons such as John d’Ibelin could maintain a military force themselves suggests a great income from trade in the Levant. Authors on the military affairs of this period such as Housley and France have made little use of Philip’s History.  Marshall and Edbury are the only historians to have utilised Philip’s text and even take an interest in the military events of the early thirteenth century.  Many feel his inherent bias undermines the value of his account but Philip’s observations on military affairs are detached from the bias nature of the narrative. The position of the History as a contribution to thirteenth century literature is however undisputed.

The medieval space is intrinsically fragmented and heterogeneous, and it is fictionally represented as such in the Continuations of the Conte du Graal. Those narratives make use of the continuity and the discontinuity of the fictional universe in order to shape the connection of the hero with the Other and the Elsewhere. In a world where the Grail is but a pretext to explore otherness and the unknown, the notions of continuity and discontinuity, which are malleable but endowed with a coherent shape and meaning, testify to the existence of a triple bond – a spatial, physical and fictional one.
The chasms, ellipses and gaps in space that run throughout the places show how the hero must confront otherness – that otherness being at times political, fantastic or sacred. The relation of the hero to the world is also organized according to the representation of his sensory perception, his gestures, movements and acts – his body organizes the space around him. The entanglement of those spatial and physical elements map out configurations which we will call fictional loci. Those places are determined by the relation of continuity that the Continuations have established with their hypotexts, of which they prolong both the fictional matter and outline. Displaying a “creative memory”, the Continuations circumvent the literary constraints imposed by their genre. It is from a ceaseless dialectics between intertextual continuity and discontinuity that the narratives and the writing as a continuator emerge.
The scrutiny of space, body and novel writing thus enables to grasp the logic of the continuous and discontinuous, and the way it organizes the narratives in the Continuations.

Au Moyen Âge, l’espace est intrinsèquement fragmenté, hétérogène. Sa représentation fictionnelle dans les Continuations du Conte du Graal le vérifie, ces récits jouant de la continuité et de la discontinuité de leur univers romanesque pour façonner la relation du  héros à l’Autre à l’Ailleurs. Dans un univers où le Graal n’est que prétexte à une exploration de l’altérité et de l’inconnu, les notions de continuité et de discontinuité, malléables mais pourvues d’une forme et d’un sens cohérents, témoignent de la qualité d’un triple lien, spatial, corporel et romanesque.
Les failles, ellipses et clivages spatiaux qui traversent les lieux et l’étendue concrète témoignent de la nature de la confrontation du héros à une altérité politique, merveilleuse ou sacrée. La relation du héros au monde est aussi organisée par sa perception sensible,  ses gestes, mouvements et actions : son corps organise l’espace autour de lui. L’enchevêtrement de ces données spatiales et corporelles dessinent des configurations que nous nommons des lieux romanesques. Ces lieux sont déterminés par la relation de continuité que les Continuations établissent avec leurs hypotextes dont elles continuent la matière et la trame narrative. Faisant preuve d’une « mémoire inventive », les Continuations louvoient avec les contraintes d’écriture que leur impose leur statut générique. C’est par une incessante dialectique de la continuité et de la discontinuité intertextuelle que naissent les récits et l’écriture continuatrice.
L’étude de l’espace, du corps et de l’écriture romanesque permet donc de comprendre les logiques du continu et du discontinu et la façon dont elles organisent les récits des Continuations.

Cet article s'intéresse à un genre littéraire étrange et peu étudié, les « moniages », récits satiriques de la conversion à l'âge adulte au monachisme. Ces textes anonymes sont écrits en ancien-français à la fin du XIIe siècle et font partie du corpus des romans de chevalerie. Cet article propose la thèse suivante : les moniages sont produits dans un milieu de clercs courtois hostiles aux moines et à la conversion à l'âge adulte au monachisme. Ils constituent une subversion du récit légendaire monastique. L'efficacité de cette satire est indéniable car les moines ne vont plus composer de vies de laïcs convertis à partir de la fin du XIIe siècle. Pour comprendre les raisons de cette défaite, cet article enquête sur la transformation du statut du récit comme instituant des normes de comportement religieux. Si dans les milieux monastiques l'exemple des saints transmis par le récit ou par l'image garde le statut d'une norme à imiter comme le montre la biographie de Christina de Markyate, le droit canonique accorde peu de valeur à ce type d'autorité. Le champ littéraire s'élargit au XIIe siècle et les clercs séculiers élaborent un nouveau modèle du récit véridique qui laisse une place pour la fiction ou le récit d'amusement et qui a une fonction corrosive sur la narration monastique. La présence de points de contact entre la littérature chevaleresque et l'hagiographie est connue depuis longtemps mais a été abordée d'un point de vue philologique (qui est la source de qui ?). Cet article cherche, au contraire, a replacer la gémellité entre ces deux genres au sein d'une histoire des pratiques religieuses.

This article focuses on a strange and little-studied literary genre. 'Moniages' (Becoming-a-monk) are satirical descriptions of knights becoming monks. These anonymous texts were written in French at the end of the 12th centuries and are a small and little-studied part of the chivalric romances. This article argues that Moniages were written by courtly clerics hostile to monks and the practice of lay adult conversion to monasticism. Moniages subvert monastic legends. This satire was efficient. Monks stop writing the deeds of knights entering the cloister. Why were they defeated? The evolution of the normative value of hagiographical examples gives us an answer. The Life of Christina Markyate demonstrates that reading and re-enacting the life of old saints were common in pious circles. However, Canon Law gave little authority to the examples of sainthood. During the 12th century, readers craved for romance. Secular clerics crafted a new model of truthful narrative that left room for fiction or fun. These new stories had a corrosive effect on more traditional hagiographical stories written in monasteries. Historians of French literature have long known that they were contacts between Moniages and Latin hagiography. Historians have mostly analysed these contacts as a philological riddle. Which versions were the source and which texts were the products? This article is not interested in philology. I try to replace the struggle between Moniages and hagiography in the broader framework of religious history.

Courtly love convention is a medieval European concept of ennobling love which helped the shaping of the society and in return which was shaped by the society during the Middle Ages. The concept has its roots in many traditions such as classical literature, Hispano-Arabic poetry and philosophy, Troubadour poetry, feudalism and Christianity. However, there are also writers who were critical and suspicious of courtly love convention. Sir Thomas Malory (c.1410-1471) presents a subtle criticism of the concept in his Le Morte Darthur (1485), the first collection that brings together all the Arthurian stories in English. One-third of this work consists of a controversial love story, the case of Tristan and Isolde. Therefore, Malory’s different treatment of the courtly love tradition and the Tristan story will be illustrated with the critical information on the Celtic sources of the legend and a comparative method to other significant characters involved in the courtly love in this work.

A thematic analysis of Beowulf suggests that the concept of monstrosity in the story is a tool to expose the indulgent flaws of humanity, and that Beowulf's heroism parallels and shines light on the gallantness of his foes. Although Beowulf has been long-labeled an epic hero and seen as a God-sent savior (line 381) by the people of Heorot, even he is not exempt from harboring hedonistic tendencies. Through the use of many parallels between the characters representing "monsters" and those representing humans, the prominent moral contrasts between them, and the representation of monstrosity through excess, the reader is left questioning what it is to be a hero and what is to be a monster; the line becomes blurrier as more comparisons are made. The story uses symbolism as a conduit to create these specific roles for the characters.

Introduction « Oyr, entendre et aprendre » : les raisons d'un petit livre nobiliaire « Si vous plait de fere silence / Et que j'aye un peu d'audience / Je vouldray ore racompter / […] Le bien, l'onnour qu'ay oy dire / De la maison noble et puissant / De la lignye de Challand » 1 . Les qualités nobiliaires du lignage occupent, dès les premiers vers, une place essentielle dans la Généalogie des seigneurs de Challant. Écrit au milieu du XV e siècle en Vallée d'Aoste, ce poème lignager s'accompagne d'une plus ample Chronique de la Maison de Challant en prose, bien qu'agrémentée de quelques ballades versifiées. Ces deux oeuvres célèbrent la mémoire et les fastes de l'une des plus importantes familles seigneuriales des Alpes occidentales médiévales. Les seigneurs de Challant descendent des anciens vicomtes d'Aoste ; au XV e siècle, ils représentent le lignage aristocratique le plus influent et ramifié du Val d'Aoste et l'un des plus puissants de toute la principauté savoyarde ; ses membres sont tout à la fois seigneurs justiciers d'une part enviable de leur vallée et hommes de cour et d'office fort prisés par leurs princes ; leur prééminence aristocratique et politique les amène à être le premier lignage seigneurial jugé digne de recevoir, en 1424, le titre comtal des mains d'Amédée VIII, lui-même élevé à la dignité ducale par l'empereur Sigismond en 1416 2 . Tel est le contexte très général dans lequel se situent la Généalogie et la Chronique. Toutes deux sont, très probablement, dues à un seul et même auteur qui se met directement en scène dans la Chronique : « je, Pierre du Boys, marchant, en Aouste demourant, ay escript ce petit livre en gros langaige […] ; j'ay seulement en brief, sans glosse, escript ce que j'ay veu, oy, entendu et de verité sceu » ; tout cela au cours d'une longue carrière passée aussi, voire surtout, au service des Challant, en tant que « familier secretare » du feu comte Jacques. Les 1 P. Du Bois, Généalogie des seigneurs de Challant, dans Id., Chronique de la Maison de Challant, éd. O. Zanolli, dans Archivium Augustanum, 4, 1970, p. 118-131, cit. p. 118-9 (= dorénavant Généal.). Dans toutes les citations de l'oeuvre j'ai scrupuleusement respecté les choix de l'éditeur, Orphée Zanolli. Ces deux ouvrages ont des titres convenus, dûs à la critique moderne et contemporaine. 2 Sur l'histoire sociopolitique du lignage voir à présent les articles que Alessandro Barbero lui a consacrés : en premier, A. Barbero, Principe e nobiltà negli stati sabaudi : gli Challant dans Valle d'Aosta tra XIV e XVI secolo (1988), dans Id., Valle d'Aosta medievale, Napoli, 2000, p. 179-210 (avec bibliographie régionale) ; cf. aussi Id., Origine e prerogative dei visconti di Aosta (1988), dans Ibid., p. 41-59 ; Id., Ramificazioni dei lignaggi e formazione dei territori signorili in Valle d'Aosta all'inizio del XIII secolo, dans Ibid., p. 127-178 ; Id., La memoria dell'ufficio pubblico nelle famiglie nobili tardomedievali, dans Formazione e strutture dei ceti dominanti nel Medioevo : marchesi, conti e visconti nel regno italico (secc. IX-XII), atti del secondo convegno, Pisa dicembre 1993, Roma, 1996 (Nuovi studi storici, 39), p. 39-56. Sur l'essor de la principauté de Savoie, G. Castelnuovo, Ufficiali e gentiluomini. La società politica sabauda nel tardo medioevo, Milano, 1994. Sur les noblesses savoyardes, G. Castelnuovo, Les noblesses et leurs pouvoirs dans les Pays de Savoie au Moyen Âge, dans M. Messiez (éd.), Noblesses en Savoie, L'Histoire en Savoie, 132-133, 1998Savoie, 132-133, -1999, avec bibliographie régionale. circonstances propices à la mise par écrit de la Chronique sont justement données en 1460 par le décès, tout récent, d'un maître qui laisse un héritier bien jeune, son fils Louis, pour le bénéfice duquel l'ancien secrétaire entend « ung peu » racconter les « faictz, entreprises, gouvernements, traictiés et affaires vertueux des nobles de Challand » 3 . Or, l'auteur de la Chronique ne naît point noble, bien que, très probablement, il soit anobli avant sa mort. En fait, les informations, certes fragmentaires, que nous possédons sur Pierre Du Bois nous le présentent tel un trait d'union presque exemplaire entre la ville, la seigneurie et la cour. Il s'agit tout d'abord d'un notable urbain, d'un marchand de succès qui, au sommet de son art, obtient l'un des postes de syndic de sa cité, Aoste ; dans le même temps, sa seconde maison n'est autre que le château d'Aymavilles où siègent les seigneurs de Challant ; Pierre côtoie leur cour toute sa vie durant, comme expert en une double culture administrative et chevaleresque qu'il avait acquise nous ne savons trop ni où ni comment ; enfin, et toujours au service de son seigneur, Du Bois fréquente aussi la cour princière par excellence, celle des ducs de Savoie, qui prend définitivement son essor culturel et institutionnel en ce milieu de XV e siècle 4 . Un marchand-officier, écrivain d'occasion et de cour ; une famille aristocratique de souche dont il faut entretenir mémoire et hauts faits ; un pays, la Vallée d'Aoste savoyarde, situé « entre montaignez et reputé a d'aulcuns sovaige » 5 : voilà les principaux cadres d'une

El presente artículo se centra en la transformación y valoración de las magas y los libros de magia o grimorios en los primeros nueve libros del ciclo de Amadís. en estos textos, la mayor parte de los libros presentes en la diégesis son mágicos y pertenecen a las magas, explicando su quehacer sobrenatural. siguiendo una perspectiva diacrónica, el análisis se remonta al modelo de las magas configurado en la literatura artúrica, que influyó en el Amadís y fue modificado en sus continuaciones. el artículo explica las importantes divergencias en la función y presentación de los grimorios, la magia y las magas al interior de este ciclo caballeresco.
This article studies the transformations and different views on an essential part of the magic landscape of the first nine books of the Amadís cycle: enchantresses and magic books (or grimoires). In these woks, most books that appear in the diegesis are magic ones and they usually belong to an enchantress. This study follows a diachronic approach, starting with the prototype of the enchantress created in Arthurian literature. The model of the Arthurian enchantress strongly influenced Amadís, whilst the sequels show significant innovation that emphasise the importance of grimoires for the characterisation of female characters. The article focuses on explaining the significant divergences in the depiction and function of enchantresses, grimoires, and magic in this chivalric cycle.a

The lost and found manuscript is one of the ever present elements in most of the samples of the chivalric literature. Even when the ori- gin of this literary resource has an ancient origin, its recurrence states the fact that it is a foundational component in this kind of works. This article aims to clarify how that same element is draw on The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, who was specially bounded to medieval and Hispanic literature.

This paper compares the different versions of the story of Berta and Milone and of the birth of Roland, composed in Italy between XIV and XVI century and included in two sections of the Geste francor, Berta e Milone and Orlandino, in the VI libro of Reali di Francia by Andrea da Barberino, e in two poems in ottava rima, the Istoria di Berta e Milone and the Innamoramento di Berta e Milone. The character of Berta and the relationships with other characters are crucial in all these texts considered. Hence, the character of Berta is subjected to major modifications in re-directing the meaning of the story to other purposes. In the Geste francor romance, hagiographic and epic elements outline a proper nativity for the future martyr of Christendom; on the opposite side by contrast, in the Innamoramento Berta is the sinner who will be rehabilitated by her exceptional son, a negative example to admonish maidens and their guardians.

La cabalgada incierta del caballero constituye la unidad episódica por excelencia de una narrativa idealista que da cuenta de una visión del mundo en crisis. Este trabajo tienen por objeto repensar la naturaleza de la aventura caballeresca y del modelo de vida errante ideal en la conformación de la narrativa occidental. Para ello, se repasa en primer lugar la literatura crítica sobre el cambio de mentalidad desde el héroe épico a la formulación del caballero cortés; en segundo lugar, se aborda la estrecha relación entre identidad y errancia; por último, se estudia y acota la importancia de los escenarios de la aventura y los prodigios a la hora de modelar diferentes personajes y estructuras narrativas, especialmente en los textos artúricos.

"In the early sixteenth century, the Altissimo was one of the major Italian oral poets: a laureate cantastorie singing his ‘improvised’ lyrical and narrative poems in Florence and in Venice, and publishing them in printed editions which often present their texts as live transcriptions of his performances. By analysing these editions (including a newly discovered booklet – his earliest known edition), this essay aims to investigate the Altissimo’s techniques of oral composition, his catalogue of subjects and styles, his sources and models, and the relations between the oral performance and the written transmission of his poetry.
The essay also highlights the striking similarities that the Altissimo’s complex and multifaceted profile – which blended literature and music, fine arts and eclectic learning, performing skills and commercial enterprise, genius and craftsmanship – shares with figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Aretino, Niccolò degli Agostini, and Niccolò Zoppino. The canonical perception of each of them as an artist, a writer, or a publisher is reassessed in the light of the clues that reveal their activity as oral performers, thus showing how pivotal and permeating oral poetry was in early modern Italian culture."

STEFANO NICOSIA Una lettura del poema comico in ottave attraverso il "Morgante" di Luigi Pulci Panel 1 L. Pulci, Morgante, a cura di D. Puccini, Milano, Garzanti 1989, 2 voll., XXVIII, 141. 2 Penso, ovviamente, al Boiardo dell'Orlando innamorato e all'Ariosto dell'Orlando furioso e dei Cinque Canti, i debiti dei quali nei confronti del Morgante sono stati già messi in luce dalla critica novecentesca.