Troianalexandrina

The Galician Crónica Troiana (G, ms. 10.233), as Ramón Lorenzo stated in the introduction to his critical edition of this text, is a translation of the Castilian Versión de Alfonso XI. The strong textual link between these two Iberian prose translations of Benoît de Sainte-Maure’s Roman de Troie is obvious. Nevertheless, only a comparative study of the Galician text and one of the Castilian codes (ms. H.j.6, of the Escorial Library) has been carried out. In this work we study parallel loci critici selected from ms. 10.233 and the four manuscripts which transmit the Castilian Versión de Alfonso XI. Through their analysis, we suggest the Castilian manuscript which was closer to the model that the translator to Galician used to complete ms. 10.233.

The “libros de caballerías” were a significant source of diffusion of the Trojan material during the peninsular Renaissance. In the second half of the 16th century, the “libros de caballerías” of entertainment especially favoured the progressive incorporation of Classical subjects. This work analyses the functionality of that tradition in the Castilian genre, used by many authors as a term of comparison, as a source that provides examples of a moral type, as a point of reference in order to emphasise the heroism of their own characters or as an argument to establish a temporary continuity between the Trojan legend and the fabulous chivalric world.

Fascination for antiquity had different aspects in medieval Italian comuni. Medieval cities could claim a Trojan or a Greek origin; ancient stones and epigraphs were reused for the construction of churches or public buildings. Indeed, relics of ancient times were recombined to transfer the glory of the past into the spirit of a new age. This operation of rearrangement had its parallel in the construction of literary or historical texts. Antiquity stood before the Italian city-dwellers not just in the shape of colossal ruins, but also in the form of historical narratives that celebrated the glory of the Romans and the Greeks. Excerpts from these ancient narratives were reinserted in medieval texts to transmit the deeds of the classical heroes to the new urban elite. Perhaps the most interesting case is Pisa in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In this important maritime city, Guido, most probably a deacon of the Cathedral, gave his compatriots a reconstruction of ancient deeds by compiling his Liber de variis historiis, a compilation of historical and geographical texts. This paper will analyse Guido’s strategies in compiling his work against the political and cultural background of this medieval comune.

An analysis of the Theban section of Wauchier de Denain’s Histoire ancienne jusqu’à César, compared with its source, the long version of the Roman de Thèbes, shows the proceedings adopted by Wauchier in his moral prose rewriting of the old roman in verse. Wauchier creates a clearer opposition between positive and negative characters, in order to offer models and anti-models to his public. The most peculiar feature of the romans antiques, the use of anachronism, is maintained by Wauchier only in the description of courtesy and chivalry: so the heroes of Antiquity can be seen as founders and ancestors of Medieval aristocracy. However, the confusion between polytheism and Christianity, which was present in the most ancient redactions of the Roman de Thèbes, and partially censored in the long version, is thoroughly eliminated by Wauchier, according to the principles of historical objectivity, and to the moral purpose of the Histoire ancienne.