Chivalric literature

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

El presente trabajo analiza las relaciones intertextuales de las continuaciones del Quijote (1605) de Cervantes: la de Avellaneda (1614) y la del propio Cervantes (1615). El artículo se enfoca en entender dichas relaciones entre los Quijotes a partir de los ciclos de los libros de caballerías, en particular el del Amadís de Gaula. El ciclo de Amadís de Gaula, bien conocido por Cervantes y Avellaneda, fue el más extenso y exitoso de los libros de caballerías castellanos del siglo XVI. Por ello, este trabajo estudia la influencia de las relaciones intertextuales del ciclo amadisiano en los vínculos que establecen entre sí las continuaciones del Quijote. This work studies the intertextual relationships established between the sequels of Cervantes' Quixote (1605): that of Avellaneda (1614) and Cervantes' own sequel (1615). This article seeks to understand the intertextual relationships in the sequels of Don Quixote with regard to the cycles of Castilian chivalric romances (libros de caballerías), especially the Amadís de Gaula cycle. This cycle was the lengthiest and most successful Castilian chivalric cycle and its works were well-known by Cervantes and Avellaneda. Therefore, this work studies how the intertextual relationships of the aforementioned cycles influenced those of the sequels of Don Quixote.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Quest for the Holy Grail is a novel of chivalry from France translated to Portuguese in the middle of the 13th century in a period of Christianization and prosification of the Matter of Britain. In relation to the feminine, the first idea we have of her is her misogynous trace, associated with lust, thanks to her capacity of moving away the knights from the Grail quest. However, when we analyze more closely the vision about women we can perceive that they have an ambiguous character,  even those considered sinners, such as Guinevere, Ysold and Morgan, due to their valorization in other medieval narratives and because the Celtic origin of the text. Another ambiguous character is Amina, Galahad’s mother, who bewitched Lancelot so that he generated her son, the most perfect Knight of Arthurian court, elected to finish the adventures of the Quest and to heal the Fisher King, who was her father and Guardian of the Holy Grail. Moreover, there are positive women in the story, such as Parsifal’s sister, associated with the Virgin Mary and conductor of the elected ones to the Holy Vessel. This young woman, at the same time that she possesses Marian characteristics, also presents some traces from the supernatural women in imrama, celtic journeys tales. We will discuss the role of women in this novel of chivalry and their three visions in the narrative: ambiguous, negative and positive.
Key-words: Feminine visions, The Quest for the Holy Grail, ambiguity, medieval imagination
A Demanda do Santo Graal é uma novela de cavalaria proveniente da França, traduzida para o português em meados do século XIII, composta já num período de cristianização e prosificação da Matéria da Bretanha. Com relação ao feminino, a primeira idéia que temos no relato é o seu aspecto negativo, associado à luxúria, graças à capacidade de afastar os cavaleiros da busca do Graal. No entanto, ao analisar mais detidamente a visão sobre as mulheres, percebemos que as mesmas possuem um caráter ambíguo, mesmo naquelas consideradas pecadoras, como Guinevere (Genevra), Iseu (Isolda) e Morgana (Morgaim), em virtude de sua valorização em outras narrativas medievais e do fundo céltico do texto. Outra personagem ambígua é Amina, a mãe de Galaaz, que enfeitiçou Lancelot para que gerasse com ela seu filho, o mais perfeito cavaleiro da corte arturiana, eleito para dar cabo das aventuras da Demanda e curar o Rei Pescador, pai da jovem e guardião do Graal. Além disso, existem mulheres positivas no relato, como a irmã de Persival, associada à Virgem Maria e condutora dos eleitos ao Santo Vaso. Essa jovem, ao mesmo tempo em que possui características marianas, também apresenta alguns traços das mulheres sobrenaturais nos imrama, relatos de viagem célticos. Analisaremos a importância da mulher nessa novela de cavalaria e suas três visões na narrativa (ambígua, negativa e positiva).
Palavras-chave: visões femininas, A Demanda do Santo Graal, ambiguidade, imaginário medieval

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.

RESUMO: A Demanda do Santo Graal é uma novela de cavalaria cristianizada, escrita originalmente em francês e traduzida para o português em meados do século XIII. No texto o mais importante é a busca dos cavaleiros pelo Santo Vaso, o Graal, o cálice bebido por Cristo na Última Ceia, cujo sangue foi recolhido por José de Arimatéia após a crucificação e levado para a Inglaterra. Este objeto possuía características curativas e garantia prosperidade a Camelot, o reino de Artur. A figura da mulher na narrativa, embora muitas vezes seja misógina, em virtude de o texto haver sido redigido por membros do clero, tem papel fundamental, pois é o feminino a comprovar a pureza/impureza dos cavaleiros e sua possibilidade de cumprir a sua missão a bom termo. Neste sentido, é possível analisar a relação dos três eleitos principais, Galaaz, Persival e Boorz com o feminino, o que determina os graus de pureza entre eles, sendo o mais puro, Galaaz. Também é interessante observar a relação dos não eleitos a encontrar o Graal, como Morderete e Leonel, com as mulheres, bem como outros exemplos do papel das damas/donzelas nesse relato. ABSTRACT: The Quest for the Holy Grail is a Christianized roman of chivalry, written in French and translated to Portuguese in the middle of the 13th century. In the text, the most important thing is quest of the knights for the Holy Vessel, the Grail, the chalice drunk by Christ at the Last Supper, whose blood was collected by Joseph of Arimathea after the crucifixion and taken to England. This object had healing properties and guarantee prosperity to Camelot, Arthur's kingdom. The figure of the woman in the narrative, although it is often misogynistic, because of the text has been written by members of the clergy, has a fundamental role, since it is the female to establish the purity/ impurity of the knights and their ability to fulfill their mission to fruition. In this sense, it is possible to analyze the relationship of the three main elected, Galahad, Perceval and Boorz with the feminine, which determines the degree of purity among them being the purest, Galahad. It is also interesting to note the relationship of unelected to find the Grail, as Mordred and Leonel, with women as well as other examples of the role of maidens/ladies in this manuscript. Keywords: knights, ladies, purity, The Quest for the Holy Grail.

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.

La biblioteca di De Sanctis è quella dell'uomo senza casa, costretto a muoversi di continuo; potrebbe stare raccolta, in edizioncine di comodo, non sempre le più attendibili, in un piccolo zaino militare. Sono i libri letti nelle scarse ore di agio [...]. I libri degli autori amati, che si sa far amare anche agli altri. Dante Isella E di poeta cavallar mi feo… Ariosto, Satire E cossì spesi la mia fanciuleza In cacie, in giochi de arme e in cavalcare, Né mi par che convenga a gientileza Star tuto il giorno ne' libri a pensare; Ma la forza de il corpo e la destreza Conviense al cavaliero exercitare: Doctrina al prete et al doctor sta bene, Io tanto sacio quanto mi conviene! Boiardo, L'inamoramento de Orlando, I, xviii 43

S e è evidente che il genere epico ha un suo sistema temporale preciso, a chi non si occupa di epica non è mai del tutto chiaro quanto l'elemento temporale sia cruciale in questo genere, e quanto esso interagisca con il sistema dei personaggi. I testi epici, in particolare i testi scritti e recitati nella penisola italiana fra Tre e Cinquecento, si basano su sequenze ripetute e variate, non solo fra testi diversi, ma anche all'interno dello stesso testo. Alcune di queste sequenze si ripresentano in modo talmente riconoscibile da poter essere definite topoi epici e sono istanti fissati nel tempo, momenti che s'integrano nel testo ma che rimangono tuttavia isolati al suo interno. Esempi eclatanti di questi episodi sono, fra gli altri, la discesa agli inferi -nell'Odissea, nell'Eneide, parodicamente nell'Orlando furioso -oppure la metamorfosi di eroi in animali (nell'Odissea, nell'Inamoramento de Orlando, nell'Orlando furioso). Se la ripetizione di per sé non stupisce particolarmente, quel che è tipico del sistema epico è che diversi eroi si trovano ad affrontare le stesse situazioni, creando un dialogo a distanza fra poemi ed episodi diversi, costituendo uno dei pochi elementi propulsivi in un genere abbastanza statico. Questo tempo della ripetizione e della variazione, a mio parere, riserva ancora aspetti interessanti da studiare. Vorrei in questo contributo ripercorrere alcune fasi dello sviluppo di un particolare caso, quello della donna guerriera in una sua specifica incarnazione testuale.

"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."

www.paragone.it Alpi Lito, Scandicci -Firenze Finito di stampare nel mese di maggio 2010 LUCA DEGL'INNOCENTI IL FURIOSO DEL BECCAFUMI Due cicli silografici ariosteschi 'OH CHE BELLE figurette! oh e' sono i begli intagli!' esclamava Anton Francesco Doni, dietro la maschera di Baccio del Sevaiuolo interlocutore dei M a r m i ( Venezia, Marcolini, 1552-53),

Oggetto testuale finora non ben identificato nel firmamento della letteratura cavalleresca, il Primo libro de' Reali di Cristoforo Fiorentino detto l'Altissimo è il maggior reperto di poesia orale del Cinquecento italiano. Trascritti dalla «viva voce» del poeta ad opera di alcuni spettatori, i 94 cantari stampati postumi a Venezia nel 1534 sono infatti fedeli reportationes del ciclo sul I libro dei Reali di Francia cantato «all'improvviso» a Firenze nel 1514-1515 (tanto fedeli da poterne ricavare l'intero calendario delle recite).
In questo volume, si analizzano le molteplici modalità di trasposizione in ottave e di arricchimento diegetico, didascalico e stilistico del modello in prosa, e si evidenziano le peculiarità genuinamente performative di quest'opera. Interruzione dello spettacolo in suspence, rettifiche per contraddizione, falli di memoria, repliche di “pezzi di repertorio”, interazione col pubblico, deissi correlata al mimo sono alcuni dei connotati eccezionali del Primo libro, che ne fanno uno specimen prezioso per osservare dappresso la secolare arte estemporanea dei canterini e per verificare in vivo la simbiosi fra oralità e scrittura nella civiltà letteraria del Rinascimento.

This essay focuses on some unusual and arcaic words (sbar(r)a, stragettare, zoventura, sagio) found in 15th-16th century Italian chivalric novels, such as Boiardo’s “Inamoramento de Orlando”, and the anonymous “Falconetto” and “Vendetta di Falconetto”. Lexicographical explanations are given, with regard to different texts, and a special digression is devoted to the foreignism ‘turbante’, which is unattested in the novels, though the exotic hat is often worn by the muslim characters.

Resumo: O objetivo do artigo é discutir as imagens dos cavaleiros medievais através da novela de cavalaria anônima A Demanda do Santo Graal (século XIII). Sabendo da importância da cavalaria na Idade Média, os grupos dirigentes pretendiam controlar esta instituição, ou, segundo o sociólogo Nobert Elias, “civilizar” a sua agressividade. Neste sentido, serão analisados os principais cavaleiros da narrativa e seus atributos. Galaaz, nome de ascendência bíblica que significa o “puro dentre os puros” é o cavaleiro eleito para encontrar o Santo Vaso. A maior parte dos cavaleiros, no entanto é composta por pecadores, como o próprio pai de Galaaz, Lancelot. As faltas dos cavaleiros estão ligadas aos sete pecados mortais.
Palavras-chave: cavaleiro, salvação, pecado, A Demanda do Santo Graal

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the image of medieval knights through the anonymous roman of chivalry The Quest for the Holy Grail (13th century). The ruling groups sought to control this institution, or as the sociologist Norbert Elias, "civilize" its aggressiveness. In this sense, we will analyze the main knights in the narrative and their attributes.  Galahad, descent biblical name which means "pure from the pure" is the elected one to find the Holy Vessel. Most knights, however, are sinners, as the father of Galahad, Lancelot. Transgressions of the knights are connected to the seven deadly sins.
Keywords: knight, salvation, sin, The Quest for the Holy Grail

Boccaccio mediatore: narrazioni amazzoniche tra cantare e poema Il contributo offre alcune prime osservazioni sul ruolo del Teseida e del De claris mulieribus nella formazione del poema cavalleresco. In particolare si esplora il ruolo di Boccaccio nel fornire temi e narrazioni di tipo amazzonico, rielaborati a vari livelli dai cantari fino all'Orlando furioso.

In L'Italianistica oggi: ricerca e didattica, Atti del XIX Congresso dell'ADI -Associazione degli Italianisti (Roma, settembre 2015), a cura di B. Alfonzetti, T. Cancro, V. Di Iasio, E. Pietrobon, Roma, Adi editore, 2017 Isbn: 978-884675137-9 Come citare: Url = http://www.italianisti.it/Atti-di-Congresso? pg=cms&ext=p&cms_codsec=14&cms_codcms=896 [data consultazione: gg/mm/aaaa] L'Italianistica oggi © Adi editore 2017 NICOLA CATELLI Le faville del battaglio. Sulle edizioni illustrate del Morgante Nel 1494 viene pubblicata a Venezia, presso Manfredo Bonelli, la prima edizione interamente illustrata del Morgante ad oggi nota. Corredata da un ampio set di xilografie, per buona parte appositamente realizzate, l'edizione Bonelli inaugura la tradizione iconografica del poema ponendosi come modello per i successivi corredi illustrativi. A partire dalla fine del Quattrocento appaiono in Italia, fino alla fine del Cinquecento, oltre venti edizioni illustrate del poema, accompagnate in alcuni casi da xilografie originali, in altri da legni di riuso. Tanto la selezione degli episodi quanto le corrispondenze e le difformità che emergono nel confronto fra il testo e la sua trasposizione visiva segnalano, in questi apparati iconografici, gli orientamenti critici di volta in volta sottesi alla narrazione per figuras: le illustrazioni giungono così a svolgere un ruolo rilevante in seno alla ricezione cinquecentesca del Morgante. Attraverso differenti spie formali, inoltre, i set iconografici manifestano al lettore talvolta anche i rapporti che legano il poema alla tradizione latina, ai poemi volgari e alle coeve pubblicazioni di 'libri di battaglia'. ! 1 L'Italianistica oggi © Adi editore 2017 come io dirò nella seguente istoria. Di mal vi guardi il Re dell'alta gloria. 1