Huon d'Auvergne

Huon d'Auvergne is an early modern romance-epic written in Franco-Italian, a hybrid literary language. Huon d'Auvergne has remained largely unedited, with only selected segments appearing in print. Far better known is the Tuscan prose version by Andrea da Barberino, dated to the early fifteenth century. One of the first, if not the first, work to incorporate Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy with direct quotes from Hell, the romance-epic's language has kept it from wide appreciation. The poetic form, language, and narrative content of the four extant witnesses demonstrate how a synoptic, or simultaneous, online edition of the multiple manuscripts can fulfill the need for reliable texts as well as research about the tradition and trajectory of its exemplars. An edition project is underway as of January 2013.[1]

Manuscripts in the Franco-Italian tradition

The only surviving witnesses of the work are four manuscripts:

  • manuscript P (Padova, Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile cod. 32), the only version with a lengthy prologue
  • manuscript Br (Bologna, Biblioteca dell’Archiginnasio B 3489), a short fragment of a few folios, known as the Barbieri fragment
  • manuscript B (Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett 78 D 8 / codice Hamilton 337), dated 1341 in the colophon, that belonged to the library of the Gonzaga; this the only parchment manuscript (the others are paper)
  • manuscript T (Torino, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria N.III.19), with a similar plot to B

The manuscript texts are not all the same; they hold different and independent versions; these are usually divided into three parts: prologue, epilogue and central part.

The prologue (present only in the P manuscript) and the epilogue (present in manuscripts B and T) are extensive, and narratively independent.[2]

The central part appears in all of the four manuscripts, though with many differing details:

  • the approximately 1200 lines that remain in Br (which contains only sections of the central portions, but that stops before the Hell episode) is related to P
  • B and T on the other hand agree almost entirely, other than by a few lines with the exception of the Ynide episode,[3][4][5] and a missing episode (the siege of Auvergne) confirms their relationship, though neither of the two manuscripts derives from the other [6]

Andrea da Barberino's prose

Andrea da Barberino also produced a prose "romanzo" called Storia di Ugone d'Alvernia in Tuscan prose (in five known manuscripts) where, during the narration of the infernal catabasis written in terzine, the prose functions as a gloss, appearing between poetic lines to clarify meanings details.[7][8]

The structure of this English entry is based on that of the Italian entry, Ugo d'Alvernia.

References
  1. http://www.huondauvergne.org
  2. J-C Vallecalle, "Un retour à l'épique: le manuscrit de Padoue de Huon d'Auvergne." Uns Clers ait dit que chanson en ferait. Vol. 2. Éd. Marie-Geneviève Grossel, Jean-Pierre Martin, Ludovic Nys, Muriel Ott et François Suard. PRESSES UNIVERSITAIRES DE VALENCIENNES, 2019.
  3. L.Z.Morgan, “Ynide and Charles Martel. Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale N III 19, Folios 72R- 89R.” Medioevo Romanzo, vol. 29, 2005, pp. 433-54; vol. 31, 2007, pp. 70-110
  4. L. Z. Morgan,“Nida and Carlo Martello: The Padua Manuscript of Huon d’Auvergne (Ms. 32 of the Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile, 45R-49V).” Olifant, vol. 23, 2004, pp. 65-114
  5. L. Z. Morgan, “The Passion of Ynide: Ynide’s Defense in Huon d’Auvergne (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Hamilton 337) (I), (II).” Medioevo Romanzo, 27, 2003, pp. 67-85; 425-62
  6. M. G. Scattolini, Ricerche sulla tradizione dell'Huon d'Auvergne" Tesi di dottorato,Università degli Studi di Siena/ Scuola di Dottorato europea in filologia romanza / École doctorale européenne en philologie romane 2009-2010, pp. 177-189
  7. M. G. Scattolini, Appunti sulla tradizione dell’Ugone d’Alvernia,Rassegna europea di letteratura italiana, 36 (2010), pp. 25-42
  8. Andrea da Barberino. Storia d'Ugone d'Alvernia. Ed. F. Zambrini. Romagnoli, 1882. rpt. Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1968.
  • Huon d'Auvergne website
  • Further Bibliography for Huon d'Auvergne on ARLIMA
  • Further Bibliography on ARLIMA for Andrea da Barberino's Ugone d'Alvernia
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