Roman de la Rose

This paper traces the intellectual history of the Tuscan poetry of the thirteenth century. In particular, the analysis describes the cultural project derived from the works (poems and letters) and the biography (from politics to religious conversion) of Guittone d'Arezzo. This project was conceived in opposition to that of Brunetto Latini, in competition with the revolutions of the Popolo and in close relationship to the actions of the frati Gaudenti. The successive literary tradition engages critically with this legacy. While the contemporary rejection of Dante has been widely studied in the secondary literature, this paper privileges the responses of Monte Andrea (1270s-80s) and Florentine intellectuals in the 1290s.

Digitization of large numbers of codices has opened new research potential for manuscript versions of medieval literature.  At the same time, advances in philosophy of mind, evolutionary anthropology, and ecological cognition offer tools that promise to expand our understanding of the manuscript matrix in shaping the works they represent. The manuscript page, in short, has been recognized as a dynamic space of cognition, and thereby liberated from the false analogy that likened it to the (passive) printed page. The codex folio may now be appreciated as a relational domain, a space of production where the object itself partners with human agents to produce a unique version of the literary artifact. This article explores key examples of new cognitive theories to demonstrate innovative research protocols using digitized manuscripts.

L’article étudie l’articulation des sources au sein duMiroir de mariage d’Eustache Deschamps : consultation simultanée d’Hugues de Fouilloy et saint Jérôme, relais du discours de Théophraste sur le mariage ; influence de Jean de Meun ; utilisation générale des sources par blocs compacts, en séries continues de chapitres. L’illustration historique censée clore leMiroir suggère quant à elle des référents culturels marqués et, peut-être, certains témoins manuscrits (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève 792).
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This paper explores religious prohibitions of castration—and the language of body parts—in the Hebrew Bible and in Patristic literature.  It then asks why Jean de Meun has his character, Reason, describe the castration of Saturn at the beginning of his poem, and then amplify the parrhesia by using the vulgar vernacular term “couilles” (“balls”) in describing the act? In answer,  the paper argues that Jean offers, first, a bold critique of Augustine’s exposition on castration in De civitate dei—and, by implication, a critique of the reigning Patristic doctrines of sexuality and  permissible language of sex and body parts.  In the second place, he eviscerates attitudes towards love and sexuality elaborated in lyric poetry and romance during the 12th and 13th centuries.  In so doing, he elaborates an “art of love,” akin to the less sophisticated, but more realistic fabliaux.

In his 'Livre du Coeur d’Amour épris' (1457), René, Duke of the Angevin territories and King of Sicily during the fifteenth century, recounts the journey undertaken by his personified Heart toward Douce Merci, the woman of his affection. The text, written as an extended dream, introduces a structural split in its narrative between the author (René) and a fictionalized dreamer / adventurer who speaks in the first person, shares the monarch’s name, and mirrors his best qualities. This division between extratextual author and textual counterpart, a technique used in earlier works such as the 'Roman de la Rose,' reenacts the doubling that Ovid’s Narcissus experiences as he beholds his own idealized image upon the surface of the fountain’s waters. The 'Livre du Coeur d’Amour épris' acts as a mirror in which the lover’s textual double is an heir of this narcissine image that defines and directs his desire. Like that of the mythic adolescent, René’s doubling ultimately serves as a metaphor for the amorous feelings that uncontrollably strike him, leading, as in Ovid’s tale, to an alienating separation between his desire and its fulfillment. In an exploration of the king’s unsatisfied love for Douce Merci, this study examines how his double (1) is a manifestation of his divisive desire and (2) attempts to achieve the fulfillment that he in the extratextual world is incapable of attaining. This is accomplished through a close reading of three key episodes of the 'Livre du Coeur d’Amour épris' that specifically bear upon the theme of doubling. In addition, manuscript illustrations of the text in Vienna and Paris present visual themes that significantly parallel the trope of the double in the text. These include a portrait of René’s textual counterpart of the dream, imagery of the fountain and stone that most specifically reenacts the Narcissus myth, and the Diamond Mirror of the Castle of Pleasure into which René’s Heart must gaze. Through this combined analysis of text and image, the significance of the doubling action at the core of the text is elucidated.

This article explores a variety of themes not readily apparent in the title: the Renaissance design of a building as an ancient Roman ruin; the use of the architectural promenade to embody medieval literary narratives; anamorphosis through sculpture and architecture to convey symbolic meaning; stereotomic arches and vaults with narrative intent; antique epigraphy in Renaissance architecture; "translatio studii" and "translatio imperii" symbolized through architecture.  For De l'Orme's Château d'Anet, see my essay: "Architecture and the Sublime,” in Timothy Costelloe, ed., The Sublime: From Antiquity to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2012), 230-273.

At the heart of the Man of Law's Tale lies a contradiction. Its female protagonist, Custaunce, faces jarring inconstancy: first cast off to Syria, then to Northumberland, and finally returning to Rome, her tumultuous circumstances challenge her namesake, constancy. When washed up to Northumberland, Custaunce's speech is notably "a maner Latin corrupt," marking her cultural foreignness to the country and the new name she gives its king, Alla (l. 512). This article will position Custaunce's "corrupt" speech as part of a greater logic of dismemberment that frames her tale, and that explains why her inconstancy is crucial to her character development. I trace Custaunce's tale to others that I believe parallel her narrative-the Pardoner's Tale and the Physician's Tale-which also feature disruptions in the speech and the namesakes of their principal characters. Moreover, I bring in Reason's discourse from the influential Roman de la Rose in order to explain how Custaunce's inconstancy is actually part of a greater statement on linguistic instability. As Custaunce evokes a disjuncture between constancy, her namesake, and the inconstancy of her experiences, so does she capture Reason's claim-that the relationship between name and thing are inherently unstable.

L’articolo studia le fonti e la ricezione dell’episodio della Riviera del Riso dell’"Inamoramento de Orlando" di Matteo Maria Boiardo. Per quanto riguarda le fonti, sottolinea l’importanza del "Roman de la Rose" nella rielaborazione di uno spunto che proveniva da Pomponio Mela e Francesco Petrarca. Per quanto riguarda la ricezione, si concentra sulla "Gerusalemme liberata" e discute le ragioni per cui la critica ha sottovalutato il rapporto fra Torquato Tasso e Boiardo, sostenendo che la Riviera del Riso è uno dei modelli dell’episodio della selva di Saron.

This paper examines both the sources and the reception of the Laughing Stream episode in Matteo Maria Boiardo’s "Inamoramento de Orlando." In regard to the sources, it restates the importance of the "Roman de la Rose" for the reshaping of a place whose name comes from Pomponius Mela and Petrarch. With respect to the reception, the essay focuses on the "Gerusalemme Liberata," first debating the reasons why scholars have so far underestimated the relation between Boiardo and Tasso and then arguing that the Laughing Stream is one of the models for the forest of Saron in Tasso’s poem.

"Jean de Meun mis en réseau: une analyse stylométrique,” In Jean de Meun et la culture médiévale, Littérature, art, sciences et droit aux derniers siècles du moyen âge, ed. Jean-Patrice Boudet, Philippe Haugeard, Silvère Menegaldo et  François Ploton-Nicollet. Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2017, p. 301-316. [Nota bene: la version publiée omet les graphiques des réseaux.]
Dans cette communication, j'essaierai, à partir d'une analyse de la fréquence lexicale, de visualiser le réseau des « communautés discursives » qui existaient dans la production littéraire en français entre 1180 et 1430. Le réseau proposé sert à contextualiser la composition et la réception du Roman de la Rose jusqu'à la Querelle. Mon analyse se fonde sur deux réflexions très distinctes l'une de l'autre : la première inspirée de la textométrie (autrement dit, la stylistique quantitative), qui examine l'usage des mots-outils, et la seconde fondée sur une analyse traditionnelle inspirée de l'histoire intellectuelle. La question que j'essaie de résoudre est de savoir si la réception de Jean de Meun, jusqu'à la Querelle, peut être interprétée de manière nouvelle grâce à une série de graphiques différents : un partitionnement de données (ou cluster analysis), réalisé à partir de paramètres différents et produisant un dendrogramme qui donne à voir un regroupement purement syntaxique et grammatical.

What difference do digital versions of medieval literary works make to the way we teach them?  A short answer might be “all the difference in the world,” since digital re-representations radically alter our conception of the nature of these works. Among other things, the multi-media manuscript— a unique production by one or more artisans— allows us to explore the issue of “authorial agency” in a context where literary texts are transmitted by writers and artists who collaborate in producing a version of a work long after the death of the first author(s), and in the absence of an original holograph copy.

The use of digital technology in teaching the Rose depends on the latter’s place in the syllabus. The great thing about digital images of Rose manuscripts is the ease with which they can be adapted to a wide variety of teaching situations. We have almost two hundred versions of the work available in repositories like the Digital Library of Medieval Manuscripts hosted by the Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University (www.romandelarose.org), and since the site is available day and night to anyone with Internet access, viewing high-resolution images of scores of Rose manuscripts is instantaneous and assured. That already makes a huge change from the days when professors had to make special arrangements for their students to view a manuscript, which could only be done if their institution owned the codex, or if the class visited a nearby rare book repository.  Even then, students themselves would not be able to page through the manuscript, let alone obtain a close-up view of a folio, or a miniature painting, or examine marginal decorations, or linger over the droll or grotesque drawings on the side or bottom margins of folios. But since the continuous availability of digital re-representations of Rose manuscripts allows students to do all of the above, and more, the issue is not whether students can access this material, but how to use the resource most effectively in teaching.

While recognizing that instructors will undoubtedly have their own particular preferences, in this essay, the author will envision a number of teaching scenarios—primarily undergraduate—by way of suggesting how the introduction of digital Rose material may offer students a richer, more meaningful engagement with this extraordinary work. The “use cases” will be adapted to a variety of course configurations, from survey courses where the Rose will be addressed in as few as two sessions, all the way to something along the lines of a senior seminar with the leisure to spend several weeks or more on the text.  In the case of advanced seminars (undergraduate or graduate) that plan to devote an entire semester to this work, the author will propose a variety of approaches for integrating the digital corpus in the classroom.  Finally, the essay will discuss use of digital Rose manuscripts for introducing students to medieval French and for learning to read the manuscripts.

The Wife of Bath’s famous erudition, resistance to authority, and unapologetic sexuality all come together in one of Chaucer’s epithets for her private parts. Bele
chose (beautiful thing) occurs only three times: in Chaucer’s prologue to the Wife of
Bath’s Tale, in a Middle English translation of a Latin medical text, and—the present
paper argues—in the Roman de la Rose. Chaucer uses the term as a deliberate repudiation of pudendum (shameful thing), a term that he does not use but which was
undoubtedly known to him through several classical and medieval sources. A survey of
all Chaucer’s euphemisms for private parts in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue contextualizes
the discussion

Estudio de conjunto sobre la poesía musical o tradicional europea, donde se recogen las conclusiones de numerosas exploraciones parciales previamente publicadas; se analizan las peculiaridades sociolingüísticas de esta poesía (que es interpretada como una subliteratura cortés) y el modo en que se relaciona con la posible lírica oral coetánea, sus características simbólicas, su hibridación con la poesía musical del Trecento italiano y su aprovechamiento en el Roman de la Rose y su recepción posterior: sus relaciones con las formas romances con estribillo y con los pliegos y la poesía popular impresa del s. XV-XVI.  Por fin se estudia su recepción en la poesía y la Filología del s. XX.

In the Roman de la Rose, one of the masterpieces of medieval French literature, begun by Guillaume de Lorris around 1230 and completed by Jean de Meun between 1270 and 1280, the allegory of Fortune has a prominent place, especially in the second part of the work, where more than two thousand verses are devoted to her personification. Described by both authors as a feminine supernatural entity turning the wheel of fate whimsically and unpredictably, the figure of Fortune reflects literary and iconographic topoi from the classical tradition, reinterpreted in terms of the ethical demands of Christian culture. Fortune’s portrayal in Boethius’ Consolatio Philosophiae fixes most of the figurative and figural characters that survive to the present day. Jean de Meun’s depiction of Fortune shows the process of resemantization of didactic models as courtly symbols: in this light, the path of the Lover to the Rose ceases to be a mystical experience, an itinerarium mentis in Deum, to become an itinerarium amantis in deam. The hero undertakes a quest in the name of the God of Love who asks his faithful servant to choose between the wise way of Reason and the hazardous way of the heart (la voie de Fortune).

The paper brings together three rather unlikely texts, the thirteenth-century Byzantine romance The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne, the thirteenth-century Old French Roman de la Rose, and the fifteenth-century Italian prose romance Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which are characterized by their lengthy dream narratives in which a first-person narrator is initiated in the art and the mysteries of love. Focusing on a group of instructive speeches contained within or indirectly connected with these dream narratives, this paper examines instruction as an integral component of the initiation process and as a powerful rhetorical tool moving the narrative – and the love story of the protagonist couple – forward. In doing so, the paper also highlights the ideas about love expressed in each of the three romances, the ways that they interconnect and the ways that they differ.

CARRAL Frédéric, « La rose, d’un pétale l’autre. » Champ lexical. Objet sémiologique. Thématique intertextuelle, dans Bulletin de l’ATPF (Association Thaïlandaise des Professeurs de Français), n°129, janvier-juin 2015, pp. 33-44,

Référence en thaï :
CARRAL Frédéric, « La rose, d’un pétale l’autre. » Champ lexical. Objet sémiologique. Thématique intertextuelle, วารสารสมาคมครูภาษาฝรัแห่งประเทศไทย ปีที่ 38 ฉบับที่ 129 เล่ม 1 ม.ค.-มิ.ย. 2558 หน้า 33-44

George Ferzoco, chair of the Centre for Tuscan Studies at the University of Leicester, is one of the first scholars to present and publish his preliminary findings on the Mural. In response, scholars have been sluggish to take critical issue with Ferzoco’s explication of the Mural’s formal elements, disparate influences, and candid political spirit. The objective of this essay is to systematically deconstruct Ferzoco’s (previously) undisputed analysis of the Mural and its related elements in order to develop a deeper, more precise reading, while opening new lines of flight.

As a methodology, I intend to scrutinize individual facets of the Mural and to construct my argument within the logical framework of descriptive headings. It is not my aim to fully dismiss or impugn Dr. Ferzoco’s findings but merely to challenge his convictions and engage, or commence, a sustainable dialogue of critical debate to which others may enrol as they wish.

This article investigates the influence of the "Roman de la Rose" on the decir "En un vergel deleitoso" (ID 1631) by fray Diego de Valencia de León, poet active between 1380 and 1410 in the court of Fernando de Antequera. The poetic production of this author is only transmitted by the Cancionero de Baena and belongs to a crucial period for the formation of Castilian-language lyric poetry. Starting from some observations of Pierre Le Gentil ("La poésie lyrique espagnole et portugaise à la fin du Moyen Âge"), a comparison between the two texts is made in order to examine similarities and differences between fray Diego’s vergel and that of the "Roman de la Rose".

«Les jardins de Genius»: texte et illustration dans le Roman de la Rose

On se demande depuis longtemps dans la litérature spécialisée consacrée au Roman de la Rose quel est le rapport entre le texte et les illustrations des manuscrits et dans quelle mesure celles-ci ont une fonction interprétative. Après avoir passé en revue les principales prises de position en la matière, nous chercherons à répondre à cete question
en examinant l’un des points clés du roman, à savoir la comparaison entre le verger de Déduit et le parc de l’agneau ainsi que les représentations iconographiques de ces deux types de jardins. La comparaison des deux jardins est faite dans le discours de Genius, et ce dans un contexte à l’ironie multiple. On est surpris du petit nombre d’illustrations liées à cet épisode dans les manuscrits du 13e au 15e siècles. Pourtant, l’interprétation de ce passage a interpellé de façon intense non seulement les lecteurs modernes, mais aussi ceux du Moyen Âge. Dans ce contexte, il sera intéressant d’étudier un exemplaire du 16e siècle (le manuscrit M.948 de la Morgan Library de New York), dans lequel l’opposition visuelle des deux jardins joue un rôle de premier plan pour constituer le point de départ d’une lecture chrétienne de l’ensemble de l’œuvre.

This essay examines the multi-text codex Paris, BnF, f. fr. 378 from a codicological and iconographic perspective, arguing for the coherence of the manuscript not only on the codicological level but also in terms of its contents. In addition, the visual dimension, often a unifying factor in manuscript compilation, offers a series of text-image anomalies that raise questions about the role of gender in the construction of the codex.

Publisher: V-R Unipress (Vienna)