Italian Literature
Notes: Berta and Milon (Ms. Marc. XIII)
- Charlemagne's two half-brothers, Lanfroi and
Landrix, who
had killed Pippin and Berta ai piedi grandi, and driven Karleto
to Spain. (Narrated in Karleto, 'The Childhood of
Charlemagne' earlier in the manuscript.) They were the sons of
Pippin and the false Berta, a Maganzese (the traitor clan)
imposter.
- This is perhaps a reference to the legend of
Charlemagne and
Gilles/Gisle with whom Charlemagne supposedly committed
incest and produced Roland in French tradition. See Keller,
"Le péché de Charlemagne," and Morgan 1995;
cf. verses
9085-86. Berta, in this text, is the sister of Lanfroi and
Landrix, a child, as they are, of Pippin and the false Berta.
- He had come with Charles from Rome to assist
in retaking
Paris from the evil half- brothers.
- This line is the beginning of Mussafia's and
Cremonesi's
editions, as well as Ruggieri's translation into Modern Italian.
- Carrying the oriaflame is a sign of particular
importance in a
character and of notable valor. Later in the manuscript, Ogier
the Dane gains his knighthood by defending the oriaflame.
- The daughter of a Spanish king (who had adopted
and
brought up Charles as he fled from his own kingdom).
Charlemagne married her and they fled to Rome because of
threats from her brothers to kill him.
- Cremonesi (1973: 28) suggests that this line is
a Dantean
reference
(Inferno XXVI 136).
- Ruggieri translates (my translation from the
Italian) "May
God guide them, and the Virgin Mary, so that they reach
salvation!" Verb tenses and forms may overlap in
Franco-Italian, offering several quite different meanings; here it
is not clear whether the tense is present indicative or
subjunctive.
- That is, someone in Christian realms must know
where they
are and how they got there.
- Ruggieri interprets this slightly differently:
"She was lying
on the green grass, on the ground; she weeps and calls..." But
there is no reason to connect the "lying" with the
following
phrase rather than the previous.
- This line is the reverse of 9115, above, which
Cremonesi
suggests as a Dantean reference.
- Note the implication of the undesirability of
wandering
pilgrims!
- Note that these weapons are not included in
the initial
description, line 9290.
- Again, this could read, "May God...lead
them."Cf. note 8.
- There is a translation of portions of the following two sections, 271-273, into Italian by Zambon (1987) which I have examined together with the original here. The lines affected are ll. 9365-95, 11270-11271 and 11360-65.
- See above, line 9115 and 9277-78.
- The original is "plument,"clearly
some kind of poor food,
but the various editors do not agree on its exact meaning.
Leslie Zarker Morgan (April 8, 1996)
Copyright (C) 1996, Leslie Zarker Morgan. This file may be
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