«Si fenist li livres Merlin». Chiusure, raccordi e giunte nella tradizione del «Merlin en prose» in Italia: fonti, modelli e volgarizzamenti

This paper offers a review of the different ways in which the witnesses of the prose «Merlin» conclude their respective versions of the romance, responding with different solutions to an ending that leaves many narrative threads unresolved or merely hinted at throughout the plot. After describing the closing formulas, textual links, and additions that some manuscript versions suggest to bridge the ending of prose «Merlin» with subsequent texts (particularly the «Suite Vulgate», but also the «Prophecies de Merlin», the «Suite Post-Vulgate», and the «Livre d’Artus»), the paper offers a more detailed analysis of witnesses of clear Italian origin. This analysis explores the potential influence these codices may have had on the italian translations of Paolino Pieri’s «Storia di Merlino» and on the «Historia di Merlino».