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Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN Les Littératures de l’Europe Unie - European Literatures - Letterature dell’Europa Unita Ciclo XXX Settore Concorsuale: 10 F/1 Letteratura italiana, critica letteraria e letterature comparate Settore Scientifico Disciplinare: L-FIL-LET/10 Letteratura italiana Between Epic and History: European epic poems of the XVIth - XVIIth centuries on Lepanto and the Reconquista Presentata da: Maria Shakhray Coordinatore Dottorato Supervisore Prof.ssa Bruna Conconi Prof. Andrea Battistini Co-supervisore Prof.ssa Bruna Conconi Esame finale anno 2018 1 2 Acknowledgements This work became possible due to the support and the precious contributions of many people. First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Andrea Battistini, for his valuable guidance, his patience and encouragement. I am infinitely grateful for his kind help and support throughout all of these years. I would also like to thank Prof. Anna Soncini for being a crucial presence during my CLE and DESE years. I am particularly grateful to Prof. Bruna Conconi for her encouragement and moral support at all of the most difficult moments. I would also like to thank all the professors of the DESE consortium for their valuable remarks and comments as to the realization of the present research. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Lucia Manservisi for having always helped me to cope with all kinds of practical problems I faced during my years in Bologna. My gratitude is as well extended to Prof. Pedro Ruiz Perez and Prof. Rafael Bonilla Cerezo from the University of Cordova for their help and valuable advice during my stay in Spain. I thank all my friends and colleagues who supported ans collaborated with me during these years. I also express my warmest gratitude to the friends from my German group whose encouraging presence meant so much. I express my special gratitude to Brigitte and Sandra for their infinite support and inspiration. I also thank my ‘Consigliere Principale’ for having encouraged me at some of the most important moments of this way. Needless to say, this work would not have been written without the unfailing support of my family. I thank them with all my heart for their patience and their standing by me during the whole time. 3 Between Epic and History: European epic poems of the XVIth-XVIIth centuries on Lepanto and the Reconquista Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..6 Chapter I The «Crusades» of the XVIth-XVIIth centuries: historical conjuncture and socio- cultural premises……………………………………………………………………............... 9 Chapter II Epic of the end of the XVIth-the beginning of the XVIIth centuries: poems on Lepanto and the Reconquista………………………………………………………………………….50 Chapter III Italian epic on «contemporary» Crusades: Francesco Bolognetti’s Christiana vittoria maritima…………………………………………………………………………………………74 Chapter IV L’armi e gli amori in Il Marte: a Fusion of History, Allegory and Myth…………..110 Chapter V Daring beyond the Pillars of Hercules: tradition and novelty in Girolamo Graziani’s Conquisto di Granata……………………………………………………………………......143 4 Chapter VI Christian marvellous and modern military techniques: the event of Lepanto interpreted by Pierre de Deimier in L’Austriade………………………...............................................................................................183 Chapter VII Providential conception in the representation of modern religious wars in Juan Rufo’s Austríada………………………………………………………………………………………..213 Chapter VIII The figure of the ‘Other’ in the context of Italian, Spanish and French epic traditions…………………………………………………………245 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................280 Bibliography...............................................................................................................................288 5 INTRODUCTION The present research is focused upon the extremely interesting and controversial issue of the ‘contemporary’ historical epic poems composed in the period between the end of the XVIth - the second half of the XVIIth centuries. It is essential to note that during the period in question, the genre of the epic poem undergoes important transformations, having proceeded by several significant stages: the influence of the canonical models offered by Ariosto, Trissino and Tasso provoking infinite debates and querelles upon the nature of the epic genre; numerous theoretical reflexions stimulating literary practise, as well as constant search for novelty, all of these aspects implicating a number of poetic imitations of the above-mentioned models bordering on the firm determination to go beyond the established norms, exploring new approaches and new perspectives generously offered by the very historical reality of modern religious conflicts. In this context, historical epic poems devoted to the recent historical facts can be perceived as an authentic challenge for the European poets, presenting a complex relationship of continuity and deviation; combination of the classical tradition and the modern ambition of innovation – all of these traits are to be taken into account as far as the analysis of the ‘new’ category of epic poems is concerned. Thus, the crucial aspect of the poems in question consists in the novelty of the argument, the innovation of the classical tradition having implicated a drastic change of the famous rule Tasso had established in his Discorsi dell’arte poetica, according to which the action of the epic poem could refer neither to the times too remote, nor to the recent historical facts. From now on, the epic poet does not fear to break the rule, searching for inspiration not only in the glorious past, but as well in the contemporary historical events. As far as the issue of innovation of the epic genre is concerned, it is essential to stress its fundamental link with History inspiring the poets of the end of the Cinquecento - the second half of the Seicento to celebrate the religious wars, focusing their imagination upon the age-long Myth of the Crusade. It is a well-known fact that History had traditionally provided crucial material for the authors of the epic poems, but it is namely in the epoch in question that the poets start feeling encouraged to search for inspiration sources in recent historical facts, notably the religious wars with the Ottoman and Moorish civilisations. The conflicts between mutually hostile civilisations, or, to adopt Fernand Braudel’s terminology, the «external»1 wars become the incarnation that the Crusaders Myth finds in history, provoking immediate, as well as unprecedented literary response resulting in a totally new stage of the complex process of the epic poetry’s evolution. Moreover, the 1 The dichotomy of the «internal» and «external» wars frequently used by F. Braudel in La Méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque de Philippe II, vol. II, 1966, pp. 170-172. 6 historical situation reveals to be perfectly inscribed in the model of the heroic epic poem traditionally representing the historical facts in the allegorical context of the absolute good incarnated by the Christians and the absolute evil incarnated by the adversaries of the Christian civilisation. As has already been mentioned above, we have chosen to focus upon European poems treating the essential religious conflicts between Christian and Islamic civilisations: the turning points of the Reconquista (the Conquest of Granada and the Alpujarra rebellion), as well as the culminating event in the Oriental war with the Ottoman Turks, i.e. the famous Battle of Lepanto. The two seemingly different historical conflicts nevertheless display a number of aspects in common as far as their literary representations are concerned. Thus, both of them, importantly enough can be inscribed into the framework of the ancient struggle of the Christian Europe with the Islamic world, both having been brought to life as the actual incarnations of the well-known Myth of the Crusade. Despite the obvious historical differences, in this literary optic, one may speak of the figure of ‘the same’ enemy – the demonic figure of ‘Other’, i.e. a different, hostile civilisation presenting a considerable menace for the intrinsically Christian identity of the Mediterranean Europe. Yet, it should be noted that the allegorical approach in question still remains a hypothesis that we shall seek to verify by way of analyzing specific texts. Our main objective, thus, comprises the thorough analysis of the heroic epic poems treating the above-mentioned religious conflicts, the selected texts belonging to various European epic traditions: the Italian, the French and the Spanish one. By way of undertaking a meticulous analysis of the selected poetic texts, we are going to trace essential aspects peculiar to the new category of the epic genre, as well as try to investigate the differences and similarities European poems in question display when treating the complex theme of actual historical clashes between Christian and Islamic civilisations. In Chapter I, we shall introduce the general problematic of the present work, dwelling in particular upon the historical, social and political issues favouring the existence and evolution of ‘historical’ epic poems. A detailed description of the role of the European Court shall be provided to complete the socio-cultural background indissolubly linked with the existence of the epic genre. Chapter