A change of perspective

The earliest representations of Charlemagne in the Italian literary tradition are derived from the preceding tradition of French chansons de geste. These portraits are then progressively modified and adapted to the cultural and political milieu of Italy, a process that begins as early as the end of the thirteenth century. In the Italian peninsula, a power void opened in the absence of emperor and pope from the peninsula in the years after Frederick II's death in 1250. Literary models and the real world clashed, making their mark on literature: in the Italian Charle¬magne epic, the main characters are clans of nobles, the pope and the emperor, in a multifaceted society that includes women, children and less privileged individuals like dwarves and woodsmen. The emperor is placed in his family context, from his forefathers to selected descendants, in order to display the origin of his characteris¬tics and their results. In this literary context, Charlemagne may represent not only the actual eighth- to ninth-century emperor, but may also reflect other, subsequent imperial figures, as well as rulers contemporary with the surviving MSS.

The poems furthermore, as is typical of the chanson de geste, play a didactic role. So on the one hand, Carlo Magno is the ideal Holy Roman Emperor offering a model to follow, ruling western Christendom: in Aspremont, chronologically the earliest composition where the action is set in the Italian peninsula, he is the absolute hero of the international scene for his leadership when he defeats the Saracen Agoulant. On the other hand, he constantly confronts domestic national enemies: his baron Girard de Fraite revolts against him. This is a reflection of the political environment typical of the regions of Lombardy and Veneto at the end of the thirteenth century and into the fourteenth, when Franco-Italian epic appears. The ʻCycle of the King’ (French Cycle du roi) is a perfect means of expression for multiple voices since it speaks both to the role of emperor and to the role of local rulers – not only rising local rulers, but also descendants of the Carolingians in the form of the house of Anjou with its aspiration to replace the Holy Roman (German) Emperor, and the papacy. Political alliances influence the depiction of Charlemagne in these poems: it tends to be negative in Ghibelline areas, where the Germanic emperor theoretically held sway, and positive in Guelph lands, where the French monarchy and papacy supported Charlemagne/Carlo.