«Molto belle e laudevoli cose raccontano i romanzi franceschi». Giovanni Boccaccio and the Knights of the Round Table, between the «Amorosa visione» and the «De casibus»

By analysing explicit references to the events of the «matière de Bretagne» scattered throughout Boccaccio’s Italian and Latin works, the following pages aim to evaluate Boccaccio’s knowledge of Breton literature across the various stages of his poetic life. This assessment also incorporates recent insights into the dissemination of Arthurian codices within Boccaccio’s circles. Boccaccio demonstrated a profound understanding of the tales of the Knights of the Round Table as they permeated Italy, particularly Tuscany, where a notable preference emerged for the Tristan legend. While Boccaccio primarily sourced these narratives from French romances, which he explicitly cites, it is plausible that they were not his sole reservoir of knowledge. The most discerning references to the Matter of Britain – the chapter «De Arturo» in the «De casibus» – indicate a clear engagement with the Middle Latin historiographical tradition, especially insular sources concerning Arthur’s story, his reign, and the Round Table. Regarding the tale of Tristan and Isolde, Boccaccio likely encountered it through French romances, which may have sparked his imagination and genius from an early age. This in turn led him to reinterpret the love affair of the Cornish lovers and the events recounted in the «Tristan en prose». Thus, Boccaccio’s interest, if not fascination, with Tristan and Isolde represents a distinctive literary hallmark, driven by stylistic and thematic considerations, possibly nurtured by the structure of the textual tradition to which he had access.