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Thursday, 10/10 (Wk 3): Religious Tolerance?

Reading assignments:

 

Please consider the following reading questions:

  • Who is telling each story? What are the narrative frames of each story?
  • Do the first day's stories you read have a common theme?
  • How does Boccaccio use satire in these stories? To what end does he use it?

 

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Recommended:

Notes
FIRST DAY Third Story

1. Melchizedek B.’s Melchizedek (literally ‘king of justice’) became the model for similar figures in later literature, notably the main character in Gotthold Lessing’s Nathan der Weise (1779). The parable of the wise Jew was a popular subject in medieval literature, as was the story of the three rings, which had appeared in the earlier collection of tales known as Il novellino. A notable feature of B.’s version is that, like other stories in the Decameron (e.g. I, 7 and V, 9) it is emboxed within a narrative already itself emboxed.

2. Saladin Of Kurdish origin, the Muslim leader Salah ad-Din (1137–93), popularly known as Saladin, gained enormous respect and popularity in the Christian world for his diplomacy, military genius, scholarliness, and generosity of spirit. The last of these qualities is splendidly celebrated in the Decameron’s penultimate narrative (X, 9). In the Commedia, Dante had placed Saladin in the area of Limbo reserved for the souls of virtuous Pagans.

 

FIRST DAY Second Story

1. in Paris... difficulties? Paris in the Middle Ages was considered to be the focal point of all knowledge, especially in the fields of philosophy and theology.

2. could prevent me from becoming a Christian The reasons Abraham gives for becoming a Christian are similar to those found in various earlier accounts of Jews or Saracens unexpectedly converted to the Christian faith.

3. Nôtre Dame de Paris The most famous Gothic cathedral of the Middle Ages, a fitting location for Abraham’s conversion and baptism.

 

TENTH DAY Ninth Story

1. Saladin The most powerful and most generous ruler in the Muslim world, Saladin died in 1193. See also the story of the three rings (I, 3).

2. the Emperor Frederick I Frederick I (‘Barbarossa’) was German king and Holy Roman Emperor from 1152 to 1190, the year in which he drowned while trying to cross the Saleph River during the Third Crusade, launched in the spring of 1189.

3. Messer Torello, of Strà in the province of Pavia The thirteenth-century chronicler Salimbene da Parma records that a ‘Torellus de Strata de Papia’ served as governor (podestà) for Frederick II in several cities of northern Italy and southern France between 1221 and 1237. B. frequently applies the names of known historical figures to his characters, at times anachronistically, to lend an air of authenticity to his narratives. Pavia, the ancient capital of Lombardy, lies on the left bank of the Ticino River, some twenty miles south of Milan.

4. which never closed its gates Torello had earlier implied that Saladin could not arrive in Pavia before the city’s gates were closed for the night, his intention being to mislead him into accepting his hospitality.

5. Acre The last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land, lying on the Mediterranean coast, Acre was conquered in 1104 by

the Crusaders, who named the city Saint Jean d’Acre. B.’s claim that the Christian armies were defeated there in 1189 through being weakened by illness reflects accounts of the battle found in Giovanni Villani’s chronicle, but is unsupported by later historical evidence.

6. San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro The famous cathedral in the centre of Pavia.
7. Digne A town in the Alpes de Haute Provence, once feudatory to the Angevins of Naples.

8. one of his magicians In general (see II, 1, III, 8, VI, 10, VIII, 3, VIII, 7 and VIII, 9) B. adopts a sceptical or derisive attitude towards all forms of magic and superstition, but both in the present story and in X, 5 the resolution of the plot depends on the successful application of the magical arts. The explanation for this apparent inconsistency lies in his treatment of the theme of the Tenth Day’s stories. In their attempts to surpass the previous speaker with their own version of a magnanimous deed, the narrators resort to increasingly improbable examples, culminating in the wholly implausible tale of Griselda.

9. Adalieta A name used in patrician families as an affectionate alternative to Adelaide.