An exploration of the many depictions of Charlemagne in the Italian tradition of chivalric narratives in verse and prose.Chivalric tales and narratives concerning Charlemagne were composed and circulated in Italy from the early fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth century (and indeed subsequently flourished in forms of popular theatre which continue today). But are they history or fiction? Myth or fact? Cultural memory or deliberate appropriation? Elite culture or popular entertainment? Oral or written, performed or read? Beginning in the age of Dante with the earliest tales composed for Italians in the hybrid language of Franco-Italian, which draw inspiration from the French tradition of Charlemagne narratives, the volume considers the compositions of anonymous reciters of cantari and the prose versions of the Florentine Andrea da Barberino, before discussing the major literary contributions to the genre by Luigi Pulci, Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto. The focus throughout is on the ways in which the portrait of Charlemagne, seen as both Emperor and King of France, is persistently ambiguous, affected by the contemporary political situation and historical events such as invasion and warfare. He emerges through these texts in myriad guises, from positive and admirable to negative and despised.

List of Illustrations List of contributorsGeneral Preface: Charlemagne: A European Icon - Marianne Ailes and Philip E. BennettAcknowledgementsAbbreviations and A Note on TerminologyIntroduction - Jane E. Everson 1.The First Franco-Italian Vernacular Textual Witnesses of the Charlemagne Epic Tradition in the Italian Peninsula: Hybrid Forms - Claudia Boscolo and Leslie Zarker Morgan 2.The Italian cantari on Charlemagne - Franca Strologo3.Carlo Magno, Ideal Progenitor of Country and Lineage: The image of Charlemagne in the prose compilations of Andrea da Barberino - Leslie Zarker Morgan4.Tradition and innovation in the fifteenth century: from anonymous poems to Luigi Pulci's Morgante - Annalisa Perrotta5.Matteo Maria Boiardo: Inamoramento de Orlando - Maria Pavlova6.Crisis and continuity at the turn of the century - Jane E. Everson7.From Emperor to Pawn. Charlemagne in the Orlando Furioso - Stefano Jossa8.An undying tradition: the afterlife of Charlemagne in Italy - Luca Degl'InnocentiAfterword: Charlemagne in Italy: a never-ending story - Jane E. EversonBibliographyIndex of Proper Names