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15 - French Romance in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2023

By
Taylor Jane H. M.
Edited by
Roberta L. Krueger
Roberta L. Krueger
Affiliation:
Hamilton College, New York
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Summary

This chapter examines the reception of romance in medieval Italy, focusing on the way in which Italian writers engaged with the form and content of the genre. It examines different modes of adaptation through the lens of three texts from different Italian-speaking communities and time periods. Firstly, the Franco-Venetian Prophecies de Merlin demonstrates the hybrid character of Italian romance, which combines French and Italian language and perspectives – in this case, to incorporate Italian interests in political prophecy into the Arthurian story. The Tuscan Tavola Ritonda characterizses Italian-vernacular adaptations of French prose cycles, combining ideals of chivalric heroism with civic values to resignify Tristan’s status as the perfect knight. Finally, the late medieval Ferrarese L’Inamoramento de Orlando by Matteo Maria Boiardo draws on the Italian cantari in its incorporation of romance themes and forms alongside chanson de geste. Italian medieval romance emerges as a malleable and porous genre that is always in dialogue with other genres and cultural perspectives.

Keywords

late -medievalRenaissanceproseearly printingchivalrymarriagesentimentalmoralizsingchapbookstasteBibliothèque BleueBibliothèque universelle des Romans
Type
Chapter
Information
The New Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance , pp. 228 - 242
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Suggestions for Further Reading

Andries, Lise. La Bibliothèque bleue au dix-huitième siècle: une tradition éditoriale. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1989.Google Scholar
Bernard, Claude. Le Passé recomposé: le roman historique français du XIXe siècle. Paris: Hachette Supérieur, 1996.Google Scholar
Brown-Grant, Rosalind. French Romance of the Later Middle Ages: Gender, Morality and Desire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Doutrepont, Georges. La Littérature à la cour des ducs de Bourgogne: Philippe le Hardi, Jean sans Peur, Philippe le Bon, Charles le Téméraire. Paris: Champion, 1909; accessible on Gallica: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6233731d.Google Scholar
Doutrepont, Georges Les mises en prose des épopées et des romans chevaleresques du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Brussels: Palais des Académies, 1939.Google Scholar
Durand-Leguern, Isabelle. Le Moyen Âge des romantiques. Rennes: Presses Universitaires, 2001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight of the Parrot [Le Chevalier au Papegau], trans. Thomas E. Vesce. New York: Garland, 1986.Google Scholar
La Sale, Antoine de. Jean de Saintré: A Late Medieval Education in Love and Chivalry, trans. Roberta L. Krueger and Jane H. M. Taylor. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Martin, Angus. La Bibliothèque universelle des romans. Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation, 1985.Google Scholar
Mettre en prose aux XIVe–XVIe siècles, ed. Colombo Timelli, Marie, Ferrari, Barbara, and Schoysman, Anne. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010.Google Scholar
Nouveau répertoire de mises en prose (XIV–XVIe siècle), ed. Colombo Timelli, Maria, Ferrari, Barbara, Schoysman, Anne, and Suard, François. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2014.Google Scholar
Perceforest: The Pre-History of King Arthur’s Britain, trans. Bryant, Nigel. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2011.Google Scholar
Perceforest: Florilège de Perceforest, ed. Roussineau, Gilles. Geneva: Droz, 2017.Google Scholar
Regis, Pamela. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Taylor, Jane H. M. Rewriting Arthurian Romance in Renaissance France: From Manuscript to Printed Book. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2014.Google Scholar

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