Andrea da Barberino

Andrea Mangiabotti,[1] called Andrea da Barberino (c. 1370–1431[2]), was an Italian writer and cantastorie ("storyteller")[3] of the Quattrocento Renaissance. He was born in Barberino Val d'Elsa, near Florence, and lived in Florence.[1] He is principally known for his prose romance epic Il Guerrin Meschino, his I Reali di Francia ("The Royal House of France"[3]), a prose compilation (in the form of a chronicle[3]) of the Matter of France epic material concerning Charlemagne and Roland (Orlandino) from various legends and chansons de geste, and for his Aspramonte, a reworking of the chanson de geste Aspremont, which also features the hero Ruggiero.[2] Many of his writings probably derive from Franco-Italian works, such as the Geste Francor, that includes versions of the stories of Reali di Francia and dates to the first half of the fourteenth century.[4] His works, which circulated at first in manuscript, were extremely successful and popular,[1] and were a key source of material for later Italian romance writers, such as Luigi Pulci (Morgante), Matteo Maria Boiardo (Orlando Innamorato) and Ludovico Ariosto (Orlando Furioso).

  1. ^ a b c Geneviève Hasenohr and Michel Zink, eds. Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Âge. Collection: La Pochothèque (Paris: Fayard, 1992. ISBN 2-253-05662-6), pp. 62–63.
  2. ^ a b The Cambridge History of Italian Literature, Peter Brand and Lino Pertile, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 168.
  3. ^ a b c Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, translated with an introduction by Barbara Reynolds (London: Penguin Books, 1975), Part I, Introduction, p. 58.
  4. ^ Pio Rajna, Ricerche intorno ai Reali di Francia (Bologna, Romagnoli, 1872)