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La Tavola Ritonda

SUMMARY

"Al nome di Dio, amen. Questo ène el libro delle storie della Tavola Ritonda, e di missere Tristano e di missere Lancilotto e di molti altri cavalieri, come di sotto si contiene. Signori..."
(Opening of La Tavola Ritonda)

"In God's name, amen. This is the book if the stories of the Tavola Ritonda, and of Sir Tristano, Sir Lancilotto, and many other knights, as recounted below. My Lords..."
(Shaver Translation)

La Tavola Ritonda, an arguable translation of the French Tristan en Prose, is hailed as the most significant and important source of Italian Arthurian literature. This was Italy's first attempt at compiling many different tales into one single text. As anyone familiar with Arthuriana can expect, the tales in the Tavola concern the stories of Arthurian lore that have been passed through the ages in Welsh, Latin, Anglo-Norman, and French. Of course, we find Lancilotto, Tristano, King Artù, Ginevara, Isotta, Fata Morgana, Gioiosa Guardia, Camellotto, Il Questo, Prezzivale, etc... but with specific Italian flair.

There are 145 episodic chapters in the Tavola which tell of "fine adventures, the great deeds of chivalry, and the noble tournaments" from a distant past. The story, beginning in King Uter Pandragon's time, takes us through the events in King Artù’s court and ends with the destruction of the Tavola. Only a small portion of the Tavola is dedicated to Uter's time and the majority of the text focuses on the happenings of Artù’s world. Here is a helpful recapping of some of the significant tales contained within the Tavola:

After we are initially introduced to the realm of King Uter, we are thrown into the tale of how Lancilotto becomes knighted once he's discovered by the Dama del Lago. Ginevara falls immediately in love with Lancilotto, who shows his prowess against a Saracen. Then the book moves to its real hero... Tristano, son of King Meladius, is born. By the age of twelve, Tristano is so handsome that the maiden Bellices falls madly in love with him, killing herself when her love is not returned. There is the fight between Tristano and Amoroldo, in which Tristano lodges the tip of his sword in Amoroldo's head. Tristano lets him go, which sets a whole series of events in motion.

Amoroldo deceives Tristano and fires an arrow in his escape, wounding the hero in the right thigh. Amoroldo seeks the aid of his sister, Queen Lotta, who is the wife of King Languis. Because she cannot save her brother, she no longer wants to help nurse men back to health. By the time Tristano enters, Languis places him in the care of his daughter, Isotta. There is then tournament fighting and a masked Tristano wins the battle for Isotta over Brunoro. But, Tristano must bring Isotta for King Marco. Upon their leave to Cornovaglia, Queen Lotta gives a love potion, which is meante for Marco and Isotta. But, due to thirst, not desire, Tristano and Isotta partake and are instantly bound for life. The have sex on the ship and soon everyone onboard is involved in a devious plan to fool the cuckolded King Marco into thinking Isotta is a virgin. They tell him there's an Irish custom that girl must have the lights off for her first sexual encounter. Isotta's mai! d, the virgin Brandina, hops into bed in the dark, fooling Marco, who is pleased to think that Isotta is a virgin.

Of course, there is more fighting and proving of courtesy. Tristano defends the honor of the falsely accused King Languis in Artù’s court and because he's treated so poorly at Marco's court, he becomes part of Artù’s knights errant. There are many instances of Tristano and Isotta falling ill when separated or erroneously thinking one has betrayed the other. Tristano fights a disguised Lancilotto on several occasions; once because Tristano believes him to know the whereabouts of Isotta.

Time is spent at Gioiosia Guardia and Marco believes his Isotta is safe from Tristano's love because he thinks that Tristano is "so well fed he will not care for other fodder." Yet, the two lovers have been having clandestine meetings. Then there are more knightly adventures of Tristano and his brother-in-law, Gheddino. More tournaments ensue and Marco is again duped by Tristano and Isotta, whose love is tested over and over again. They play a trick on him while he's having his blood let and Tristano jumps across a floured floor (Marco had placed flour around Isotta's bed to make sure no footprints were detected while he was away) for more love with Isotta. Marco, still having his doubts, asks for the assistance of the archbishop, who dissuades Marco from killing Isotta, but suggests she submit to the test of the burning iron.

More adventuring occurs and then there is the foolery with Dinadano. Tristano saves Artù and the knights of the Table against inevitable defeat at the hands of Sir Lasancis of Isola Riposta. Prezzivale has some adventuring. Then there's the tournament at Verzeppe in which Tristano disguises himself through significant shield and flag colors, as well as knightly attire. Tristano is knocked down a few times in battle and a couple of times, believed to be dead.

Next are the Sangradale episodes of the High Quest and adventuring continues. There are a few episodes in which Fata Morgana plays a devious role. Songs and poems are sang and passed between Tristano and Isotta, showing their love.

Ultimately, Tristano is fatally wounded by his uncle, King Marco, and he says his goodbyes to the knights. Isotta in the meantime has passed out from the pain she feels knowing Tristano's inevitable death. When Tristano is ready to, he asks Isotta to accompany him, which she gladly does. The two hug and die together, simply because they are so weak and sad. Laments are made and the bodies are viewed for twelve days. A vine grows at their grave and the colors represent all that is expected of an honorable knight. News spreads of their death and then Artù's people battle Marco's people, successfully killing them all. Artù’s knights want Marco put to death, but Artù forbids it and vengeance for Tristano is served by Marco's imprisonment.

Upon return, Camellotto is filled with laziness and those that no longer desire adventuring. Lancilotto's love for Ginevara grows stronger. Lancilotto takes Ginevara and kills two of Artù’s nephews. A six month siege occurs and Sir Ivano tries to make peace between Lancilotto and Artù. Finally Artù gets Ginevara and tears down Gioiosa Guardia. Mordarette falls in love with Ginevara. Lancilotto kills Calvano the same day Artù finds out about Mordarette. Artù fights and loses the battle with Mordarette. Fata Morgana is believed to have taken Artù in a magic ship, where he died of his wounds and was then buried by a fairy. Lancilotto kills Mordarette and tells Ginavera the tale. She falls down dead realizing she is much to blame. Lancilotto dies a year later after becoming a priest and the Tavola was destroyed in the 399th year.

The two main knights, Lancilotto and Tristano are quite interesting to evaluate within the Tavola. Anne Shaver points out that due to the amount of page real estate dedicated to Tristano, as opposed to Lancilotto, that the former is held as the uppermost knight. (He is introduced on page 43 and dies on 505.) The Italian version has Tristano being awarded that which is taken from Lancilotto (like the Gioiosa Guardia), Tristano's battles have more relevance in affecting King Artù’s court, and Tristano practically kills Lancilotto on many occasions. Shaver alludes to this shift from the French hero, Lancelot, to Tristano was because the Italians re-wrote and "slanted" the tales so that "Tristano is far superior to the French night." It's not the least bit ironic then, that "the death of chivalry" immediately follows the death of Tristano, and the destruction of the Table isn't far behind.

"E ora nostro libro fa punto e pone fine, all Iddio grazia, per omnia secula seculorum, amen. Qui finisce questo libro della Tavola Vecchia e della Nuova. Amen"
(cxlv, Ending of La Tavola Ritonda)

"And now our book comes to an end, by the grace of God, per omnia secula seculorum, amen. Here ends the book of the Tavola Vecchia and the Tavola Nuova. Amen."
(Shaver Translation)

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AUTHOR

The author of the Tavola Ritonda, which is estimated to be written mid 1300's, is unknown. He is identified as a Tuscan and according to Mirielle Mazzocato, the author "must have had a sound knowledge of the law."

Filippo-Luigi Polidori, also known as F.L. Polidori, compiled, edited, and re-wrote parts of the 14th century text in 1864 and 1865. He was a member of the Accademia della Crusca and has been called the Malory of Italy.

(1801-1865)

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HISTORY

According to Shaver, scholars, such as Daniela Branca, estimate that Polidori compiled the version we have today from no less than eight separate manuscripts dating back to the 1300’s including: The Florentine Mediceo-Laurenziana, Pluteo XLIV, number 27; the Magliabechiana, Palchetto II, number 68; a manuscript from the Communal Library of Siena; and unknown sources.

The Polidori text comes in two volumes, both of which state the following on the title page:

Testo Di Lingua - Language Text
Citato Dagli Accademici Della Crusca - Cited (Summoned/Called Forth) By Academics Of Crusca
Ed Ora Per La Prima Volta Pubblicato - And Now Published For The First Time
Secondo Il Codice Della Mediceo-Laurenziana - Following The Code Of Mediceo-Laurenziana
Per Cura E Con Illustrazioni - Edited By And With Illustrations
Di Filippo-Luigi Polidori - From Filippo-Luigi Polidori (My translations)

The first volume is the actual Tavola Ritonda. The second volume is the Spoglio Lessicografico - The Breakdown Of The Vocabulary/Lexicon (my translation). Volume Two is a three-hundred page reference aid for reading the Tavola. It consists of archaic and foreign vocabulary words as used in the Tavola and gives their proper, or "pure", corresponding Italian word.

The Accademici Della Crusca were the scholars at the institution dedicated to saving old texts through translations and re-writings. These philologists were interested in teaching and preserving the Italian language while discovering its roots. Michael San Filippo offers a good explanation of the nature of the Academy: "The Academy of the Chaff was founded in Florence in 1582 to maintain the purity of the language. Still in existence today, Accademia della Crusca was the first such institution in Europe and the first to produce a modern national language. The major work of the society was the compilation of A. F. Grazzini's Vocabulario, a dictionary of "pure" words first published in 1612 and later taken as a model by other European states." The philologists at the Accademica followed the precedence set by the Mediceo-Laurenziana code established in 1571 at the Biblioteca, which was partly planned by Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana states it's general purpose of "specializing in the conservation and study of its manuscript and rare book collections."

Other than setting up the strict language codes that were followed by both the Accademica and the Biblioteca, what is quite significant about the title page is the word "citato." I cannot determine if what is meant is simply, "the text was cited by the academics" or as "summoned" implies, a calling forth, or an evoking, which is defined as: "to cite especially with approval or for support; to bring to mind or recollection; to recreate imaginatively." And this is precisely what Polidori did. He took, cited and compiled an old manuscript to recall the past while simultaneously recreating portions of it.

In 1983 when Shaver translated the Italian work, she claimed that the Tavola Ritonda was the only complete Arthurian cycle in Italian. However, new scholarship published in 1997 by Gloria Allaire, shows that her work on the Arthurian manuscript that once belonged to the Panciatichiano family in Florence, called Il Tristano Panciatichiano, "is now the longest of the four well-known versions of the Tristan legend in Italian prose." One of those well-known versions is La Tavola Ritonda and the other three Allaire refers to are: Tristano Riccadiano, Tristano Veneto and Il Tristano Panciatichiano.

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SIGNIFICANCE

While it has its obvious sources in a number of previously addressed texts, there are a number of alterations within the Tavola, altered specifically incorporating Italian culture. The language itself reflects the time of mid 1300 Italy and Marie-Jose Heijkant describes exactly how textual differences were immersed in their culture. Bart Besamusca and Frank Brandsma claim the following of Heijkant's assessment: "The Italian Tavola Ritonda is an adaptation of the prose Tristan (enriched with fragments of Guiron le Courtois and the Lancelot-Graal), made for the rich merchants and bankers of Tuscany, Umbria and the area around Venice. The image of society in the text tends towards the utopic, as the author demonstrates by means of a discussion of the Round Table and the knights' quests." While the above is true, there is so much more Heijkant explains that is crucial to ! a comprehensive understanding of the Italian version of episodic Arthuriana. Because she discusses so much quality information that I have been unable to find elsewhere, I will summarize and paraphrase her introduction in translation.

***

She says that because the growing merchant class showed interest in Tristan en Prose, which is speculated to have been initially introduced via a powerful Pisano named Gaddo dei Lanfranchi through port traffic, there was a definite desire for a translated version. Therefore, it's not surprising that the Italian Tavola begins with the salutation of "Signori," indicating the author is specifically writing to the most powerful bankers and merchants of the time. These were not aristocrats, but this salutation was a display of elevation of class.

Heijkant says the stories were adapted to reflect the author's current society. For example, the courts in the French version were idealized. The Tavola author brought it down to a human level and paid attention to the particular things of daily life, such as the general appreciation of art, textiles, frescoes, etc. The goal was to exalt the knowledge and the strength of men, on a human level. Tristano was the favorite legendary origin of real and human love and he fought against the elite. Even his death has been seen as a way to end the decadence of Arthurian life, again bringing it to a more human level. The Italians focused energy on Tristan, who was not only the strongest in tournament, but he shows he's the fairest as well.

There is also the description of the tournaments. For example, with the Torneo di Verzeppe, the Italian language version adds more detail, spectacle, and excessive joy to the event. As colors were an important part of the Old Table, which had the Florentine colors of oro-azzurro and argento-vermiglio, here again, the colors are an important part for the Italian tournament. The flags for the days of tournament and the winning knight were changed from the French version. The winner of the Italian tournament wins with the azzuro-argento (sky-blue/silver) flag. Again, these are typical Florentine colors. The way the tournaments were cited was an accurate reflection of the tournaments going on between the Italian courts. The judge, or mayor, of the real Italian games was called the "sindaco." He was considered the most represented person of the italian comune and this becomes significant because he appears in the Tavola.

More religion is brought into the Italian version, such as the devotion to Virgin Mary, Christ's blood, and the overall way the Grail is presented. Isotta is described with ray of sun on face while she is sleeping in the forest with the sword between herself and Tristano. The ray of sun has angelic associations and the sword is a sign of chastity. The first time the Grail appears, it is covered in vermiglio, the liturgical color of the day and a symbol of the Holy Spirit. This projects spiritual illuminations onto the object. In Italy, the people venerated the blood of Christ as a relic in towns like Genoa and Mantova. Also, God's judgment is prevalent in the Tavola, as seen when Tristan imagines the bed of Isotta catching fire.

There's also religious displacement of blame. In the French version, it was a torment, or sin, for Tristano and Isotta to love so deeply. The Italian version avoided any sort of sin by permitting the two to drink from "filtro amoroso" on the way to Cornwall. This excuses their sin from a religious standpoint and even the Pope forgives them at some point. As far as Tristano's death and the Arthurian society's desire to avenge, this is a long Italian tradition called "spirito di vendetta" which is a "sacred rite to avenge." Again, there is no blame. Also, the Italians don't deem Arthur responsible for having sex with his sister which creates Mordarette.

Again, colors are revisited in the way Tristano and Isotta's sepulcher is described. Tristano's qualities are explained in the colors that were chosen: azzuro (lealtá - loyalty ; saggezza - wisdom; fermezza - steadfastness); argento (giustizia - justice); and oro (fede - faith; nobiltá - nobility). The tomb, being made of gold instead of copper, shows the Italian author gives them immortality by placing them in an incorruptible statue that feeds life. The grapes the vine produce a taste of their eternal love.

For Italians such as Boccaccio and Dante, culminations and ending are of the utmost importance and a source of fascination. Therefore, this ending must also be fascinating. The private vices that contributed to the downfall of Camellotto did conform to the Italian civil and moral codes of the day. The vices that ruin the society according to Dante are:"superbia, invidia, avarizia."

There are other instances of Italian cultural influence: Dinadano becomes a hero of words through comedy and humor. There is also the more realistic figure of the fake consigliere, Federumgotto, who is an Italian advisor of a more political position. And there is also the Petrone Vermiglio test. It's an old popular superstition similar to the well-known Bocca della Veritá. (A stone face/mask with an open mouth which you place your hand in. If you lie, you are unable to remove your hand.)

***

The Tavola is also the first time, as Edmund G. Gardner points out, there is a demarcation of Tavola Vecchia and Tavola Nuova. "This distinction between the 'Tavola Vecchia,' the 'Old Table' in the days of Uther Pendragon, and the 'Tavola Nuova,' the 'New Table' of King Arthur and his knights, is a peculiar feature of the treatment of Arthurian legend in Italy."

Gardner also points out Polidori's liberties with Dinadano on the love debate in chapters lxxiii-lxxv are humorous and "in the spirit of Boccaccio and evidently a fresh invention." Shaver discusses this topic in her introduction to the translation of the Tavola. She points out that Christopher Kleinhenz's work "focuses on the character of Dinadano to show how the author of the Tavola recreates to suit his own attitudes and the Italian national character, more practical and less courtly than the French."

Gardner also suggests there are probable signs of unexplainable peculiarities, or changes, in the Tavola that must be reflections of "a lost popular narrative poem, of the type that in Italy preceded the cantari." Such is the case, he says, when Burletto chooses death over the more common prisoner submission option. "Burletto thought hard, wondering if it wouldn't be better to die at once than to put himself into the hands of the worst enemy he had in the world. Then his heart swelled with pride and despair, and he swung himself over the saddlebow and threw himself into the rushing river, where quickly he was drowned. Seeing this, Tristano marveled greatly, and recommended Burletta to all the devils who have fallen from the sky." (lxxxi, Shaver Translation)

The specific theme of courtly and knightly differences is expanded on in Aldo Scaglione's analysis. He says the following of a source text of the Tavola called, Tristano Riccardiano (approx. 1300): "The Tristano shows that the story had taken roots in Italy in a form that was clearly outside the mainstream of courtly love. The adventure between Tristan and the (married) Dama dell'Agua della Spina (chaps. 41–44) is overtly sexual and entails the consummation of avowed desire at the first private encounter. Starting with King Mark, who aggressively rivaled Tristan but hid his jealousy like a courtly dissimulator, the men at court acted enviously and treacherously, Ghedin openly scheming to destroy Tristan. This way of handling Arthurian lore confirms that Petrarca's decisive contribution to the crystallization of courtesy in the love lyric drew directly ! from the Provençals through the philosophically-bent Stil Nuovo poets, whereas the cantimbanchi who operated in the mixed climate of northern Italian courts and burghers' communes could hardly appreciate the tense purity of erotic sublimation underlying the ideals of chivalry.... Distortions and original interpretations contained in popular texts became part of the Italian chivalric tradition." And these alterations were not lost on the Tavola.

Of course, there are many more significant alterations in the Tavola as opposed to previously documented versions of the legends, such as Tristan "disguising himself as a girl" and "the dreams of the two lover's presaging the end" in cxxvi or the knights enjoying sloth and luxury after Tristano's death in cxxxviii. Gardner states many of these textual peculiarities and does a superb job summarizing events within the Tavola. For an even more in-depth read into the comparison highlighting the particularities of the Italian version, Daniela Branca offers an extensive analysis.

The Italians and their Arthuriana texts, including the Tavola Ritonda were quite significant in the preservations of the legends. Aldo Scaglione states "Italians performed the remarkable feat of saving lively medieval traditions in both genres of manners and of chivalry when France and Germany tended to abandon them. Except for the prose Lancelot, Chrétien himself and his other French contemporaries and immediate followers ceased to be read after 1400 even in France: they were in any event linguistically unapproachable. After 1500 the glorious stories of medieval knights continued to be of vital importance in European literature thanks, chiefly, to the new Italian versions."

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Italian
Branca, Daniela. I Romanzi Italiani di Tristano e la Tavola Ritonda. Florence, 1968. (Analytical perspective on the Tavola.)

Heijkant, Marie-Jose. La Tavola Ritonda. Milano: Luni Editrice, 1997. (The Tavola text, as well as an excellent introduction to the material and it's significance within Italian culture.)

Polidori, Filippo-Luigi. La Tavola Ritonda o L’istoria di Tristano. Parte Prima. Bologna: Presso Gaetano Romagnoli, 1864. (Book One, consisting of the Tavola.)

Polidori, Filippo-Luigi. La Tavola Ritonda o L’istoria di Tristano. Parte Due. Bologna: Presso Gaetano Romagnoli, 1865. (Book Two, consisting of the vocabulary terms.)

Dual Langauge
Allaire, Gloria. Il Tristano panciatichiano. Italian Literature Volume I. Ed. and Trans. Gloria Allaire. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2002. (Discusses her translation of a compilation of Arthurian legends found in Florence's Biblioteca Nazionale Central, Panciatichiano 33. It was mislabeled as the Tavola Ritonda and she is the first to publish in its entirety and it is the "longest of the four well-known versions of the Tristan legend in Italian prose. Also offers a comprehensive log of Arthurian manuscripts owned/copied by Italians. This is a dual-language text with an extensive bibliography.)

English
Bruce, James Douglas. The Evolution of Arthurian Romance: From the Beginnings Down to the Year 1300. Vol. 2. Gloucester: Smith, 1958. (Has a good listing of Italian versions of Arthurian Romances in Part V, Chapter III as well as information on Rusticiano da Pisa in Part III, Chapter XI.)

Ferrante, Joan M. The Conflict of Love and Honor: The Medieval Tristan Legend in France, Germany, and Italy. Paris: Mouton & Co. .V., 1973. (Contrasts and compares episodes and structures of Tristan legend in Béroul, Eilhart, Thomas, Gottfried, and the Tavola Ritonda.)

Gardner, Edmund G. The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature. New York: Octagon Books, 1971. (Traces Arthurian lore from the earliest references of Arthurian legend in Italy to Palaméde, Tristano Riccardiano, and the Tavola Ritonda to later treatments. Provides context for Dante and Boccaccio. Offers a detailed summary of the Tavola.)

Kleinhenz, Christopher. "Tristan in Italy: The Death or Rebirth of a Legend." Studies in Medieval Culture, 5. 1975. (Additional perspectives on the legend in Italy.)

Polidori, F.L. La Tavola Ritonda. Trans. Anne Shaver. New York: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1983. (Shaver translates Polidori's compilation. She offers a resourceful introduction providing a brief history and context for the Tavola Ritonda.)

Scaglione, Aldo. Knights at Court: Courtliness, Chivalry, & Courtesy from Ottonian Germany to the Italian Renaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. (Helpful book for Italian context within the realm of the knights and the court.)

General Tristan Texts (not focusing on Italian legend)
Brengle, Richard L. Ed. Arthur King of Britain: History Romance, Chronicle, & Criticism with Texts in Modern English, From Gildas to Malory. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts,1964.

Bruce, James Douglas. The Evolution of Arthurian Romance: From the Beginnings Down to the Year 1300. Vol. 1. Gloucester: Smith, 1958.

Curtis, Renée L. Tristan Studies. München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1969.

De Briel, Henri and Manuel Herrman. King Arthur’s Knights and the Myths of the Round Table: A New Approach to the French Lancelot in Prose. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksiek, 1972.

Eisner, Sigmund. The Tristan Legend: A Study in Sources. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1969.

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WEBLIOGRAPHY

Italian
Accademia Della Crusca (Official Site)
Medioevo Italiano Project (Forums and research for Medieval Italian Studies)

English
Academic Stream and Grail Quest 99 (Mirielle Mazzocato briefly comments on the Tavola's author. Her PhD dissertation was The Dismantling of the Chivalric Code: Literature and Society in the Tavola Ritonda.)
Bart Besamusca and Frank Brandsma's Compilation (A list of texts, critical/historical perspectives and reviews on Arthurian texts.)
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Official site with history and collection information.)
Camelot Project Bibliography (General bibliography of Arthurian sources)
Georgetown's Labyrinth (General Italian Medieval Studies Links)
La Biblioteca Magliabechiana (Overview of the library)
Michael San Filippo's "About Italian Site" (Summary and explanation of the Accademia Della Crusca.)
"The Italian Scene" from Aldo Scaglione's Knights at Court (An excellent e-text tracing the evolution of Arthurian knightliness. Italian origins, influences, and transformations. Also discusses relevance of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.)

Extras

ActivItaly (Bocca della Veritá Legend and History)
Brown's Decameron Web (Focuses on Boccaccio but offers good general information about history, society, and literature during the 13th and 14th centuries in Italy.)
Chrétien de Troyes (Wikipedia Page)
Dante Alighieri (Wikipedia Page)
Giovanni Boccaccio (Wikipedia Page)
Michelangelo.com (Everything Michelangeo)
Thomas Malory (Wikipedia Page)
The Tavola Ritonda seems to have influenced heraldic symbolism.

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Web Report By Stacee Barcelata
October 27, 2005