Laudes Mediolanensis civitatis

Laudes Mediolanensis civitatis ("Praises of the City of Milan"), also known as the Versum de Mediolano civitate ("Verse of the City of Milan") or Versus in laudem mediolanensis civitatis ("Verse in Praise of the City of Milan"), is an early medieval Latin poem, which describes and praises the Italian city of Milan. It dates from the mid-8th century, during the era of the Lombard Kingdom. The poet is unknown. The poem is an encomium, an example of the urban eulogy genre.[1][2] It celebrates not only the Christian heritage of Milan, but also its pagan Roman history.[3] It is considered to be the earliest surviving medieval description of a city.[4][5] The poem served as a model for the Carolingian Versus de Verona, a similar encomium to its rival Verona, written around 50 years later.[1][2][4][6]

  1. ^ a b Margaret Schlauch (1941), "An Old English "Encomium Urbis"", Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 40 (1): 14–28, JSTOR 27704714
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Zanna was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ward-Perkins was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b JK Hyde (1966), "Medieval descriptions of cities" (PDF), Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 48 (2): 308–40, doi:10.7227/BJRL.48.2.5
  5. ^ Diego Zancani (2016), "The notion of 'Lombard' and 'Lombardy' in the Middle Ages", in Alfred P. Smyth (ed.), Medieval Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval Europe, Springer, p. 219, ISBN 978-1349266104
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference godman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).