ANDREA da BARBERINO. — Of Jacopo de’ Mangabotti, born in Barberino di Valdelsa around 1370, died after 1431. A celebrated minstrel, he compiled, drawing on Franco-Venetian or Tuscan sources, numerous romances on chivalric themes (le Storie Narbonesi, il Guerin meschino, i Reali di Francia, la Storia di Ugone d'Alvernia, l'Aspramonte, la Diocesa di Guerino allo inferno), in which the epic of the « chansons de geste », rendered with the warmth and vividness of spoken discourse, assumes a more realistic tone and becomes history. Maestro A. strives to make the narrated material plausible by citing imaginary historical sources. Chivalric, legendary, traditional, and devotional elements, reworked from one or more works, merge in his romances, which contain no shortage of lively and colorful pages. Among them, i Reali di Francia and il Guerin meschino achieved immense popularity and are still read with pleasure in popular circles.
In the former, the fabulous genealogy of the royal line of France is reconstructed in abundant detail, from its progenitor Fiovo, son of the emperor Costantino, to Carlomagno. The latter recounts the marvelous adventures of Guerino, son of the king of Albania, Milon, who, carried away from the royal palace at the age of two months and sold as a slave, wins back the lost kingdom for his parents after passing through unknown lands of the East, among giants, wild beasts, and deformed peoples.
A sense of sound morality pervades A.’s romances, in which the legendary heroes of religion and justice come to life again, embodying the universal ideal of perfection cherished by the people.