The earliest evidence

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521434928.002

1 - The earliest evidence

from Origins and Duecento

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Edited by

Peter Brand and

Lino Pertile

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Peter Brand: Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Lino Pertile: Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts

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Summary

Looking back from the beginning of the Trecento, Dante surveyed the relative literary achievements of French, Provençal and Italian vernaculars up to his day:

French boasts that, because of its greater ease and pleasantness of use, anything set down or composed in vernacular prose belongs to it: for instance the biblical compilation with the deeds of the Trojans and Romans, and the exquisite adventures of King Arthur, and many other stories and learning. Provençal claims that vernacular writers wrote poetry in it first, as in a more perfect and sweeter language: think of Peire d'Alvernhe and other learned men of older times. The third language, of the Italians, has two claims to preeminence: the first is that those who have more sweetly and subtly written vernacular poetry were from its household; Cino da Pistoia and his friend are examples: and the second is that it is seen to rely more on Latin, which is universal.

(De vulgari eloquentia [henceforth DVE] 1, 10 (?1304))

What is striking about this summary is that both French and Provençal have well-defined traditions behind them: the examples Dante cites go back generations (Peire d'Alvernhe wrote between 1150 and 1180; Chrétien de Troyes and Thomas, authors of the most important French romances, were writing around 1170). Significantly, Dante extends the references to French and Provençal writers by mentioning unspecified ‘plures’ and ‘alii’ (numerous others). For Italian, however, the examples could hardly be more solitary or recent: Cino da Pistoia was in his early thirties and his friend – Dante is referring to himself – was nearing forty: no other ‘vulgares eloquentes’ are mentioned.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Italian Literature , pp. 1 - 4

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521434928.002 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 1997

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1 - The earliest evidence

Summary

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