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This reproduction is the best copy available Medieval Sicilian fyric poetry: Poets at the courts of Roger IT and Frederick II Karla Mdette A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of PhD Graduate Department of Medieval Studies University of Toronto O Copyright by Karla Mdlette 1998 National Library BibIioth&que nationale me1 of-& du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, nre Wellington OttawaON K1AW OttawaON K1AON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde me licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distri'bute or sell reproduire, prtter, distnbuer cu copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de nlicrofiche/film, de reprod~ctior~sur papier ou sur format eectronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celleci ne doivent Stre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Medieval Sicilian Lyric Poetry: Poets at the Courts of Roger lI and Frederick II Submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of PhD, 1998 Karla Mallette Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto During the twelfth century, a group of poets at the Norman court in Sicily composed traditional Arabic panegyrics in praise of the kingdom's Christian monarchs. Less than a century later, at the court of Frederick II, Sicilian poets wrote the first lyric love poetry in an Italian vernacular. This study maces the literary history of Sicily during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and engages the modem scholarly fornulation known as the "Arabic theory" (the notion that Arabic literature had a fornative influence on early Romance vernacular lyric), in order to refine the methodology used to read and compare Arabic and Romance love lyrics written in the colonial states of southern Europe during the Middle Ages. The introductory chapter, "Remembering Norman Sicily," sketches the fundamental issues that dl1 inform subsequent readings of Sicilian literature: the changing relation betwen Sicilian culture and the mainland cultures of the Mediterranean: and the evolution of Musl im-Christian cultural communication within Sicily. "Al-Apbanishi and the Court Poets of the Norman Era" uses a close reading of a poem written in praise of Roger I1 and his Sicily to explore the Siculo-Norman cultural project. "Vernacular Culture in Sicily, ss. XI- XIII" parallels the revolutionaty vernacular poetic traditions emerging in the Arabic- and Romance-speaking worlds, and examines the innovative use of the Sicilian vernaculars on coinage produced in twelfth and thirteenth century Sicily. "Giacomo da Lentini and Siculo-Italian Poetics" considers the realignment of Sicilian culture that occurred when Sicily began to be viewed as an extension of the European mainland, and Sicilian culture was reconceived as a variant of Lahnate Christianity. The concluding chapter, "The 'Arabic Theory' and the Poetries of Sicily," uses the methodological interrogations of the foregoing chapters to comment on the traditional scholarly approach to conceptualizing and categorizing literary influence in the Musiim/Chnstian colonial states of southern Europe during the Middle Ages. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, for their valuable advice and guidance throughout this project: Massimo Ciavolella William Granara, Adcare A. Iannucci, Brian Stock and Robert Taylor. Without the thoughtfuf readings and generous responses of Suzanne Akl~ari,William Gmnara, and Brian Stock in particular, this would have beu a much poorer work FOR MICHAEL In this bumiug countn? words have to be shade. Yehuda Arnichai Medieval Sicilian lyric poetry: Poets at the courts of Roger II and Frederick II .. Abstract .............................. ... ..........................................................................n Anbic transliteration system ................................... ... ........................... vi Rememl)ering Sonnan Sicih Ilru JuhrVisits Sicilv ..................................... ... ....................................*.*.1 Sicilia1 Literary Historv, ss. =I-XI11 ......................................................... 6 The Ttw Skilies .......................................................................................... 9 Appr11di.u: Arabic texts quoted ................................................................. 16 Al-Atr5hmisk and the Poets of the Soni~men The Sonmu Idea of Sicilv....................... ,. ............................................ 19 Favam ........................................................................................................- 99 "Favara"..................................................................................................... .2& Reading the Court Poetrv of Norman Sicilv ............................................ bn Sicilim Poets Outside the Court ........................... .,.. ........................... .ar.-3 -4 Literan- His?ory of Norma Sich ............................... .. ................... 6.~rl Appendix: Arabic texts quoted ................... ..... .............................. .-72 Vrn~acularCulture in Sicily, ss. XII-XI11 Auerl~achand the Idea of Vernacular Culture......................................... 76 Arabic 'Vernacular"Culture ......,.......... ..... ........................................ -81 The Dc crtlgnri ~bqrte~ttin and the Romance Vernacular Traditions .............................................................. -92 The S iciliau Vernaculars: Coinage in Sicily, ss. XI-XI11 ...................... .I00 The Ven~acular"Avant Gardes" of the Middle Ages ............................. 110 Escunus: The T-Motif Coins of Soman Sicily .................................. .119 Appeudiu: Arabic texts quoted ......................................-....................... .I21 Giacomo da Lentini and Siculo-Italian Poetics Frederick I1 and the ?jam Kingdom of Sicily ................................ --I23 C Giacomo da Lentini and Siculo-Italian Poetics ..................................... 12 i The Two Siciiies ............................................................................... ..--.--I47 The "~rabicTheorvw and the Poetries of Sicily Sicilian Poetw, ss. XII-XI11...... .. ............................................................. 162 Yews fmm A broad ................................................... .A Appendi~:Arabic texts quoted ...................................... d6 dl translations are m,- own. unless otherwise noted. However, when trauslatious in European languages of Arabic texts exis*, I have cited the page numbers where the passags I quote are translated in those editions. Brief passages from .%ral)icprimarv work are cited iu translitemtion. The texts of leu$hit.r- quotat ious are given in appeudices fdowitig each chapter. Remembering Norman Sicily Ho detto che mi pare di couoscere il paese anche nei swoi silenzi. Leonardo Sciascia Orrhio di cnpm. p. 13 Ibn Jubayr Visits Sicily In the war 11S.l. 11111 J thaw. w A~daludruireturning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. was shipreckcd in Sicilv. At the time he arrived. the Sorrnms. who had seized control of the island from the Muslims. had iweu ill power for little more than 100 vears. The great Sonmi1 king Roger I1 had ruled and died: his son William I had ruled and died. The rurretlt Sicilia1 monarch. William 11. welcomed the travellers t:) Sicilv in person. and paid the lailding fee for the Muslims on Ilm Ju1)avr's ship. In his account of his visit to Sicilv. which fonns out. chapter of the maglificeut descriptioo of his travels thrnugh the Mediterranean. Itm Jubayr will descrihe William and his court in some detail: he considers William's admiration of Muslim learning and tolerance of Islamic religious practice at his court to be among the wonders of Sicily. He will also take pains to illustrate through interviews and anecdotes the daily lives of Muslim Sicilians, attempting to produce a coherent portrait of a Christian land where Muslim visitors are honored and Aral~icleanling and culture are embraced in the royal court. hut Muslim citi=musendure economic and religious injustices. and many of them dream of escape to a \letter land. In the introductory section of his chapter on Sicily, Ibn Jubayr lays out most programmatically the paradox of Muslim-Christian cohabitation on the island. Following this introductory section, he will describe his travels through Sicily by relating events in the order in which they occur. But in the introductory section his organization is thematic, rather than chronological. His goal is to convey to his readers the central difficulties presented by Sicily: the Muslim colonizers have been colonized; and the culture that is emerging here - inchoate and unsettled though it is - resists categorization. Ibn Jubayr is a sensitive obsenrer and a skillfbl narrator, and he finds an evocative way to represent the ambiguity of Sicilian culture. Sicily's approach is announced to the travelers on bard