The Italian Mandeville
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/91215 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Mandeville in Italy: the Italian Version of the Book of John Mandeville and its Reception (c. 1388-1600) Matthew Coneys Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Italian Studies University of Warwick, School of Modern Languages and Cultures October 2016 Table of Contents Table of figures ................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ v Summary .......................................................................................................................... vi Conventions .................................................................................................................... vii Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. viii Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Scope ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 3 Structure ................................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter One: The Italian Mandeville ...................................................................... 10 Sir John Mandeville: an absent author ............................................................................ 11 The Book of John Mandeville ......................................................................................... 13 The Italian version of the Book ....................................................................................... 20 The Italian version in print ............................................................................................. 25 Features of the Italian text .............................................................................................. 31 Chapter 2: Pilgrimage and Devotion........................................................................ 36 The Book as a pilgrimage account ................................................................................... 36 Mandeville’s European pilgrim readers .......................................................................... 38 Italian pilgrim readers and readings ............................................................................... 40 The Book and visions of travel ......................................................................................... 48 Christine de Pizan’s Le chemin de longe estude (1403) ................................................. 48 The Riccardiana version of the Viaggio dei tre monaci al paradiso terrestre (fifteenth century) ........................................................................................................................... 51 The Book and virtual pilgrimage ..................................................................................... 55 Gabriele Capodilista’s Itinerario (c. 1459) and the Paduan convent of San Bernardino 56 Michele da Figline and Zanobi del Lavacchio: remembering the Florentine pilgrimage of 1489 ............................................................................................................................ 61 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 3: Travel Writing and Romance Epic ....................................................... 72 Travel writing and Italian fiction .................................................................................... 73 Courtly readers and romance interest ............................................................................ 83 Andrea da Barberino’s Il Guerrin meschino (c. 1413) ................................................... 89 Romance epic verse: from Luigi Pulci to Cassio da Narni ............................................ 97 Luigi Pulci’s Morgante (1481) ....................................................................................... 97 Matteo Maria Boiardo’s Orlando innamorato (1495) and Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso (1516) ............................................................................................................... 102 Cassio da Narni’s La morte del Danese (1521) ............................................................ 107 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 108 Chapter 4: An Image of the World ........................................................................ 112 The Book as geography ................................................................................................... 113 Merchant readers ............................................................................................................ 115 The Viaggio verso ponente of Cristoforo Fioravanti and Niccolò de Michiel (1432) .. 117 Mercantile interest in Florence ..................................................................................... 120 Humanism and cartography: the Book at the margins ............................................... 122 Giovanni da Fontana’s De omnibus rebus naturalibus (c. 1454) ................................. 126 Nicolaus Germanus and the Nordenskiöld map (c. 1460) ............................................ 129 A limited legacy? .......................................................................................................... 131 The Book in print ............................................................................................................ 132 Geography, marvels and the New World ...................................................................... 133 Authority and credibility ............................................................................................... 136 ii Reading the marvellous ................................................................................................ 138 From collections to natural history ............................................................................... 141 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 145 Chapter 5: Theological concerns ............................................................................ 151 Religious diversity in the Book ....................................................................................... 152 The Vulgate Latin redaction ......................................................................................... 157 Religious interest and the Book’s Italian circulation ................................................... 159 Eastern Christianity ........................................................................................................ 161 The Italian Prester John tradition .................................................................................. 164 Non-Christian religions .................................................................................................. 170 Islam ............................................................................................................................. 170 Judaism ......................................................................................................................... 173 Pagan religion ............................................................................................................... 175 Counter-Reformation concerns ..................................................................................... 178 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 183 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 187 Appendix ................................................................................................................... 195 Manuscripts of the Italian version of the Book ................................................................. 195 Manuscript fragments of the Italian version ..................................................................... 198 Manuscripts of the French Continental version ................................................................ 199 Manuscripts of the Vulgate Latin version ......................................................................... 200 Stemma codicum for the Italian version of the Book ........................................................ 202 Italian printed editions of the Book ..................................................................................