ANDREA da BARBERINO. - Of Jacopo de' Mangabotti, born in Barberino di Valdelsa around 1370, died after 1431. A famous storyteller, he compiled, drawing on Franco-Venetian or Tuscan sources, numerous romances on chivalric subjects (the Storie Narbonesi, the Guerin meschino, the Reali di Francia, the Storia di Ugone d'Alvernia, the Aspramonte, the Diocesa di Guerino allo inferno), in which the epic of the «chansons de geste», rendered with the warmth and vividness of spoken discourse, takes on a more realistic tone and becomes history. Master A. strives to make the narrated material plausible, citing imaginary historical sources. Chivalric, legendary, traditional and devotional elements, reworked from one or more works, merge in his romances, where lively and colorful pages are not lacking. Among them, the Reali di Francia and the Guerin meschino enjoyed an extremely wide circulation, and are still read with pleasure in popular circles.
In the first, the fabulous genealogy of the royal line of France is reconstructed, with an abundance of detail, from the progenitor Fiovo, son of the emperor Constantine, to Charlemagne. In the second are narrated the marvelous adventures of Guerino, son of the king of Albania Milon, who, carried off from the royal palace at two months old and sold as a slave, reconquers for his parents the lost kingdom, after having passed through unknown lands of the East, among giants, wild beasts and deformed peoples.
A sense of wholesome morality breathes from A.'s romances, where the legendary heroes of religion and justice live again, answering to the universal type of perfection yearned for by the people.
Bibliography8 worksEditions: I Reali di Francia, critical text edited by G. Vandelli, Bologna 1892-1900; Le Storie Narbonesi, Bologna 1873-1887; La Storia di U
BIBL.: Editions: I Reali di Francia, critical text edited by G. Vandelli, Bologna 1892-1900; Le Storie Narbonesi, Bologna 1873-1887; La Storia di Ugone d'Alvernia, Bologna 1882; La diocesa di Guerino allo Inferno, Bologna 1883; Brani dell'Aspramonte, publ. by F. Zambrini, Imola 1879-81; Studi di Aiello del Barbicone, Bologna 1863, 1864. - Studies: P. Raina, Ricerche intorno ai Reali di Francia, Bologna 1872; H. Hawckhorst, Über die Geographie bei Andrea de' Magnabotti, in Romanische Forschungen, 13 (1894), p. 683 ff.; G. Osella, Il Guerin Meschino, Torino 1932 (with an extensive bibliography).
Borzi, Italo. “Andrea da Barberino.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, col. 1190. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/andrea-da-barberino.
MLA
Borzi, Italo. “Andrea da Barberino.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, col. 1190. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/andrea-da-barberino.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_andrea_da_barberino,
author = {Borzi, Italo},
title = {Andrea da Barberino},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {1190},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/andrea-da-barberino}
}
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