Burgundy and German Empire in Curial. The centre of Europe seen from the periphery
Abel SOLER
Original title: Borgonya i l’Imperi Alemany en el Curial. El centre d’Europa vist des de la perifèria
Published in
Keywords: Alfonso the Magnanimous, Chivalric romance, Curial e Güelfa, Medieval catalan literature.
The chivalric romance Curial e Güelfa (anonymous; datable ca. 1445-1448) is the most emblematic literary artefact of a court in Europe’s periphery, like the Neapolitan one of Alfonso the Magnanimous, where Catalan –also a «periphereal» language– was the most widespread. The king’s favourite painters were Flemish and the author of the romance was fascinated by the Burgundian cavalry-performance, played here by characters like the duke (Philip III the Pious), the lords of Bergues and Saint-Georges, the German duke of Kleve, etc. The Holy Roman Empire, the duchies of Bavaria and Austria, the kingdom of Hungary and other states in central Europe are well depicted in the romance, as the unknown writer had news about the courts, the diplomacy and the aristocratic circles from the heart of the continent.
Fall and redemption of the knight in Curial e Güelfa
Sonia GROS LLADÓS
Original title: Caída y redención del caballero en Curial e Güelfa
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: Anthropocentrism, Chivalric novel, Curial e Güelfa, Fifteenth Century, Italian Humanism.
In this paper we propose a reading of the Catalan chivalric novel Curial e Güelfa, following the moral itinerary of the hero from the perspective of the Scriptures, with the intention of adequately assessing the profane character of the text, in our opinion, primarily anthropocentric, secular, and pagan, linked to an Italian humanistic context.
Horace in Curial e Güelfa?
Sònia GROS LLADÓS
Original title: Horaci en Curial e Güelfa?
Published in
Keywords: Bacchus, Benvenuto da Imola, Curial e Güelfa, Horace.
This article analyzes the possible presence of Horace, not studied so far by the specialists, in the novel Curial e Güelfa. Firstly, the most obvious points of contact are established: the relevance of the classical deities of poetry, Apol·lo and Bacchus, and the respective domains to which they were associated. The transmission of classical texts is revised through the exegetic tradition of the Commedia and finally a proposal of the Anonymous Catalan author’s interpretation is offered.
The dignity of the body, of woman, of love and pleasure. Brief analysis in the great humanist works of the Crown of Aragon
Júlia BUTINYÀ
Original title: La dignitat del cos, de la dona, de l’amor i del plaer. Breu anàlisi en les grans obres humanistes de la Corona d’Aragó
Published in Rhythms, expressions and representations of the body
Keywords: Commedia, Curial e Güelfa, Decameron, Lo somni.
This observation aims to outline quantitative nuances about the notion of the body and senses from the great humanist works of the Crown of Aragon: The dream of Bernat Metge (1399) and the Curial and Güelfa (ca. 1458), for the purpose of approach the evolutionary line of the Humanism since the beginning. It demands to go back to the literary sources and the ascendancy of that ideological renewal, which will lead to Dante. This route is of interest to follow the first humanist achievements, of which we obtain very pure samples in these Italo-Catalan origins, marked by a stamp of mixture, sensual and moral, that characterizes them. Finally, we will conclude by pointing out the fleetingness of the humanistic purity that these two works contain.
