Origins of italian literature

• The fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD marked the beginning of the Middle Ages, which lasted until the discovery of America.
• The Roman Empire's end led to the disintegration of its territories and Europe was divided into warring states.
• The Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), survived until 1453 and adopted Greek as its official language.
• The administrative structure that supported Latin in the Empire's territories collapsed with the empire.
• The Roman Church maintained Latin as its universal language and scholars utilized it for Philosophy and Science.
• In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator, discovered America, ending the Middle Ages and beginning the modern era.

Origins of Italian Literature and Early Texts in Vulgar Latin

• Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin coexisted in the Middle Ages.
• Classical Latin was the written and official language used by writers and clergy.
• Vulgar Latin was the spoken language of the people, simpler and influenced by local languages.
• Example: "equus" (horse) in Classical Latin was "caballus" in Vulgar Latin, from which the Italian "cavallo" derives.

Early Italian Documents

• The Veronese Riddle

• The Cassinesi Placiti

  • These are the earliest official documents written in the vernacular and consist of four testimonies recorded between 960 and 963 before a judge, concerning land ownership.
  • An example includes, "Sao ko kelle terre, per kelle fini qui ki contene, trenta anni le possette parte Sancti Benedicti" ("I know that those lands, within the boundaries described here, have been possessed for thirty years by the monastery of San Benedetto").

Verse Texts in Vernacular

• The Ritmo laurenziano
  • It is a composition by a minstrel (an artist who sings, does acrobatics, and entertains the public)
• The Ritmo cassinese
  • It compares ascetic and material life
• The Ritmo su Sant'Alessio
  • It tells the life of Sant'Alessio

The Troubadour Lyric

• In the 12th and 13th centuries

  • Three languages spread in France and Italy

• The language of "oc" (Provençal) developed in southern France, where the troubadour lyric originated.

• The language of "oil" (true French) was spoken in northern France.

• The language of "sì" (Vulgar Italian) was spoken in Italy.

• "Trobadorica" comes from "trobador" (Provençal), meaning "trovatore" in Italian, who was a writer of love poems that they recited while singing with musical accompaniment.

• Themes of the troubadour lyric:

  • Love
    • It is seen as a relationship of submission between the lover and the beloved, paralleling the relationship between a vassal and his feudal lord
    • This love does not aim at marriage, as the parties involved are already married
    • Known as courtly love or "fin'amore" (refined love)

Epic Literature in the "Langue d'oil"

• Its themes are epic and chivalrous, and it greatly influenced Italy until the Renaissance (16th century).
• It consists of about 80 short poems, chansons de geste.
  • La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) is the most famous song, which tells of deeds from the time of Charlemagne, who was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire on Christmas night in 800 AD.

The Birth of the Novel

• Alongside epic literature, an escapist literature developed that narrates adventures and focuses on the marvelous and the magical.
• It includes passionate and "forbidden" love stories.
• These stories lacked musical accompaniment and were read aloud.
• It developed mainly in northern France and is known as the Matter of Britain.
• These are legendary tales of King Arthur (King of Great Britain) and his Knights of the Round Table, featuring stories of love, adventure, magic, and enchantments.

Religious Literature

• San Francesco and the Canticle of the Creatures
  • St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
  • Canticle of the Creatures (1224)
• Example
  • "Laudato sii, mio Signore insieme a tutte le Tue creature, specialmente signor fratello Sole"... "Laudato sii, mio Signore, per sora luna e le stelle." ("Praised be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun"... "Praised be You, my Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars.")
• St. Francis's poetry is revolutionary and expresses well the Franciscan spirituality in which creatures and nature are praised for their beauty and usefulness, and these are entirely good.
• St. Francis was opposed to many of his religious contemporaries who saw the world and nature as places infested with evil that alienate man from God.

The Sicilian School

• It was founded at the court of Frederick II (1194-1250), an enlightened king interested in the development of literature, art, and science.

  • It was the birth of poetry in the vernacular
  • It was influenced by Provençal themes, such as love, sadness, nostalgia, and suffering

• Sicilian poets were mostly state officials, notaries, and administrators—not professional troubadours—who wrote as a pastime.

• They wrote poems without musical accompaniment, which was disappearing.

• Giacomo da Lentini

  • He was the most important poet from Lentini (1210-1260)
  • He was a notary and the inventor of the sonnet, a 14-line poem in hendecasyllable, with each verse composed of 11 syllables divided into 4 stanzas: the first two stanzas are quartets (of 4 verses), and the last two are triplets (of three verses) with a metric scheme.

The "Dolce Stil Novo"

• It was a Tuscan school.

  • After the death of Frederick II (1250), the cultural axis shifted from Sicily to Tuscany.
  • The themes and linguistic experimentation were revived by Tuscan poets living in a region very different from Sicily.
  • It developed in the political reality of the Communes, which were autonomous and had political and decision-making powers separate from the central power.
  • The "Dolce Stil Novo" developed in Florence in the 13th century. -The term "Dolce" describes true love, written and experienced by the poets, unlike in Sicilian poetry, where love was merely a literary convention and the style is refined to eliminate dialectal and harsh tones.
  • The term "Stil Novo" describes the theme of love is approached in a different way from past poetry.
  • The most famous poet was Dante Alighieri, along with Guido Guinizzelli, Guido Cavalcanti, and Cino da Pistoia.

• Poems

• Guido Guinizzelli

  • "Io voglio del ver la mia donna laudare" ("I want to praise my lady truthfully")

• Dante Alighieri

  • "Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare" ("So gentle and so dignified she seems")