Giovanni Boccaccio

1313-1375

Although Boccaccio certainly had French romances available to him during his youth at the Angevin court of Naples, his use of Arthurian materials began only after his return to Florence, continuing then to the end of his life. The Amorosa Visione (1342) lists many Arthurian knights and ladies in its triumph of Fame (Canto 11), while Lancelot and Tristan reappear in the triumph of Love (Canto 29). Both categories are subsequently overturned in the triumph of Fortune, and the narrator is urged by his guide to turn from these worldly matters to the pursuit of salvation. In the Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta (1343-44), the heroine compares her love tragedy to Isolt's (Chapter 8) and that of other tragic heroines in order to claim pridefully that her own misery is greater than all others'. Like Dante's Francesca, Fiammetta is an example of the destructive powers of obsessive passion, who, although still alive at the end of her tale, has clearly descended into a state of damnation and despair. The lusty widow of the Corbaccio (1355) is satirically characterized as reading Arthurian love stories instead of prayer-books, and as becoming sexually aroused by these readings. The book is a misogynistic tirade intended to cure a hapless lover of his erroneous love.

More complex is the use of Arthurian materials in the Decameron (1349-51). The book's subtitle, "Prencipe Galeotto" (Prince Galehaut), has been variously interpreted as a defense of the work's erotic contents (Boccaccio is a go-between, a friend to lovers) or as a reference to Inferno (Canto 5), and thereby a warning about the reader's moral responsibility for the way one reads and acts. The latter interpretation seems reinforced by Tale 10.6, in which a king falls in love with two sisters named Ginevra and Isotta (Guenevere and Isolde) but then vanquishes his own lust and has them honorably married. He thus avoids Francesca's sinful imitation of the Arthurian lovers' example and becomes explicitly a positive example of behavior to be imitated. Hollander has pointed out that Boccaccio in his preface begs his women readers not to let the plague description frighten them from reading on ("di più avanti leggere") - thus negatively evoking the last line of Francesca's speech in hell: "that day we read no farther" ("quel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante"). The use of the Lancelot story as pornography by the bawdy widow of the Corbaccio further supports the connection between allusions to this tale and the problem - already recognized by Dante - of authors' versus readers' responsibility for the influence of literature on behavior.

It has even been suggested that "Galeotto" unmasks the dangerous seductions of fiction itself, and that the Decameron narrators therefore distance themselves from the historical world to emphasize the distinction between reality and fiction. There is som disagreement as to the relevance of Dante's Inferno, Canto 5, to Boccaccio's subtitle; but Boccaccio's continual imitation of Dante's writing makes such an allusion probable. Thus, Dante would be a formative influence on Boccaccio's own views of the Lancelot legend, making moral questions paramount. The Amorosa Visione seems to reinforce this concern with moral interpretation. For the Elegia, too, it is important that the famous Arthurian love stories are tragedies. The Decameron narrator claims to be finally freed from the miseries of excessive love and, alluding to Ovid's Remedia Amores, offers to help distract ladies from such melancholy passion. He is thus scarcely a go-between to their loves.

Besides the "Galeotto" subtitle, the Decameron contains very little Arthurian reference; but a few tales bear perhaps some resemblance to Arthurian materials. An indirect connection has been suggested between the story of Alatiel and strands of a complex romance within the Old French Prose Tristan of the previous century. The theme of the eaten heart, occuring in a tale derived from the Provençal vida of Guillem de Cabestaing, can also be found in the "Lai Guiron" sung by Ysolt in the marriage segment of Thomas's Tristan. In any case, even though the Novellino an earlier collection of Italian novelle known to Boccaccio, had drawn directly from Arthurian legends for a number of tales, Arthurian stories were not a major or direct source for the Decameron.

De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (1355-62) recounts the history of King Arthur, drawn mainly from Geoffrey of Monmouth, but adds to it the Twelve rules of the Round Table. Boccaccio's chapter was cited in turn by Lydgate. Boccaccio avoids any reference to fabulous adventures and prefaces the narrative by commenting that Arthur's fame makes his inclusion in this book of histories seem necessary despite serious doubts about the historical truth of the matter. Emphasizing Arthur's military career, he suggests that Arthur's pride in conquest abroad led to his destruction at home. His final moral is that only humble things endure.

In all, Boccaccio's treatment of Arthurian materials seems remarkably negative. The famous King and his loving knights offer moral examples of what to avoid, not what to imitate. Dante may well have been a powerful influence on this attitude.