Comparative Romance Languages and Literatures
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The aim of the course is to enable master students deepen their training in Romance languages and literatures in medieval Europe, accessing from a comparative perspective their works, authors, contexts and genres through the most advanced tools of philology; it will thus give the opportunity to measure the broad horizon within which the literary tradition has to be framed.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course the participants will know extensively the production, circulation and reception dynamics of medieval literary works in Romance Europe; they will also master the most up-to-date methods of historical linguistics and textual criticism, applied to the manuscript and print tradition of texts.
Furthermore, the students will be able to translate or paraphrase accurately works written in different Romance languages, to relate them to each other and to analyze them autonomously, both from a linguistic and from a literary point of view, in light of the most recent developments of criticism; they will also be able to place them in the context in which they were created and to reconstruct their textual and paratextual history, with particular attention to codicological and decorative data.
In addition, students will sharpen their skill to evaluate scientific bibliography independently, observing the development of the critical discussion, and will enhance the ability to expose clearly and properly their knowledge.
Furthermore, the students will be able to translate or paraphrase accurately works written in different Romance languages, to relate them to each other and to analyze them autonomously, both from a linguistic and from a literary point of view, in light of the most recent developments of criticism; they will also be able to place them in the context in which they were created and to reconstruct their textual and paratextual history, with particular attention to codicological and decorative data.
In addition, students will sharpen their skill to evaluate scientific bibliography independently, observing the development of the critical discussion, and will enhance the ability to expose clearly and properly their knowledge.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
The course, entitled 'The Restless Bones of Hissarlik: On the Romance Trails of the Trojan Myth', consists of the following three parts, which will be covered in sequence. A) Iliadic appropriations and dislocations in medieval Romania; B) Pages from the Troad (and beyond) C) Dardanian stemmata: manuscripts, chains, constellations. The course awards 9 CFU credits; those who wish to acquire only 6 credits will prepare only parts A and B. Part A will cover the main branches of the medieval Romance fortune of the Trojan stories, recovered in a foundational key thousands of kilometers away and thousands of years later in numerous European courts, with results of the highest level, often interconnected. Part B will deepen the analysis of some memorable passages from this collection, with special attention to the descriptions of settings and artefacts and to the elaboration of the dialogues, which are often of the highest stylistic quality. Part C will examine the most interesting philological cases within this framework, also giving space to attempted reconstructions of the sources and contexts of the respective works, as well as the mechanisms of transition from one genre to another.
Prerequisites for admission
The course presupposes the competences in comparative historical grammar of the Romance languages, in history of medieval Romance literatures and text criticism which are provided by the courses of Romance Philology (basic and advanced) of the three-year degree. Students of the degree programme European and extra European languages and literatures who intend to follow it can contact the teacher for some additional bibliography.
Teaching methods
The course adopts the following teaching methods: lectures; translation, commentary and critical discussion of texts; direct, even autonomous, examination of digital reproductions of documents by students, medieval manuscripts and prints, with their decorative apparatus, made available through the course website on the Ariel online educational platform (https://myariel.unimi.it/course/view.php?id=7619); since both materials are complex subjects of study, written in different languages, attendance is strongly recommended.
Teaching Resources
Part A
Students will combine their notes with: Alfonso D'Agostino, Dal Roman de Troie all'Istorietta troiana, "Filologia e critica" 31 (2006), pp. 7-56; Lola Badia, La guerra de Troia i les lletres catalanes medievals, "Mot so razo" 6 (2007), pp. 32-46; Luca Sacchi, Contaminazioni dardaniche in Castiglia, "Critica del Testo" XVII.3 (2014), pp. 75-91; Clara Pascual-Argente, "Dize en la estoria francesa": The Circulation of Francophone Matter of Antiquity in Medieval Castile (c. 1200-1369), in Thomas O'Donnell, Jane Gilbert, Brian J. Reilly (eds.), Medieval French Interlocutions. Shifting Perspectives on a Language in Contact, York, York Medieval Press, 2024, pp. 197-218;. Further bibliography will be indicated later.
Non-attending students will add to the above: Alfonso D'Agostino, Le gocce d'acqua non hanno consumato i sassi di Troia. Materia troiana e letterature medievali, Milano, Cuem, 2006, pp. 44-116; Dario Mantovani, «Cum Troie fu perie». Il Roman de Troie e le sue mises en prose », in Alfonso D'Agostino (a c. di), Il Medioevo degli antichi. I romanzi francesi della "Triade classica", Milano·Udine, Mimesis, 2013, p. 169-197.
Part B
At the beginning of the unit students will be provided with a booklet with excerpts from the works to be translated and commented in class and further materials. The examination of the texts should be accompanied by the following essays: Emmanuèle Baumgartner, Peinture et écriture: la description de la tente dans les romans antiques au XIIe siècle, in De l'histoire de Troie au livre du Graal: le temps, le récit, XIIe-XIIIe siècles, Orléans, Paradigme, 2004, 179-187; Luca Sacchi, I «Dichos de Leomarte» e le vie del compendio, «Carte Romanze» 5.2 (2017), pp. 7-43 (https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/carteromanze/article/view/9342 ); Clara Pascual-Argente, «Memory, Media, and Empire in the Castilian Romances of Antiquity: Alexander's Heirs», Leiden, Brill, 2022, pp. 188-247. Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students may use as support for textual analysis the entries on the works (and eventual commentary pages) contained in the aforementioned volume Alfonso D'Agostino, Le gocce d'acqua non hanno consumato i sassi di Troia.., Milano, Cuem 2006.
Part C
Students will combine their notes with: Clara Pascual-Argente, "De francés en castellano": La tradición manuscrita de la crónica troyana de Alfonso XI, «Troianalexandrina» 20 (2020), pp. 23-58; Rosa María Rodríguez Porto, Dark and elusive Fortune: Affectionate Readings of the Roman de Troie in Fourteenth-century Castile, in Costanza Cipollaro, Michael-Viktor Schwarz (hrsg. von), Alle Mären ein Herr: Ritterliches Troja in illuminierten Handschriften Wien, Boehlau Verlag, pp. 159-178; Laura Endress, Barbara Gwenaël Muller, Sur les traces textuelles et iconographiques du sagittaire dans les Histoires de Troie au Moyen Âge, «Encomia» 44 (2022), pp. 83-125 (DOI: 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-16726-6.p.0083). Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students may use the following volumes as support: Marc-René Jung, La légende de Troie en France au Moyen Âge. Analyse des versions françaises et bibliographie raisonnée des manuscrits, Basel·Tübingen, Francke, 1996; and Juan Casas Rigall, La materia de Troya en las letras romances del siglo XIII hispano, Santiago de Compostela, Universidad, 1999.
Students will combine their notes with: Alfonso D'Agostino, Dal Roman de Troie all'Istorietta troiana, "Filologia e critica" 31 (2006), pp. 7-56; Lola Badia, La guerra de Troia i les lletres catalanes medievals, "Mot so razo" 6 (2007), pp. 32-46; Luca Sacchi, Contaminazioni dardaniche in Castiglia, "Critica del Testo" XVII.3 (2014), pp. 75-91; Clara Pascual-Argente, "Dize en la estoria francesa": The Circulation of Francophone Matter of Antiquity in Medieval Castile (c. 1200-1369), in Thomas O'Donnell, Jane Gilbert, Brian J. Reilly (eds.), Medieval French Interlocutions. Shifting Perspectives on a Language in Contact, York, York Medieval Press, 2024, pp. 197-218;. Further bibliography will be indicated later.
Non-attending students will add to the above: Alfonso D'Agostino, Le gocce d'acqua non hanno consumato i sassi di Troia. Materia troiana e letterature medievali, Milano, Cuem, 2006, pp. 44-116; Dario Mantovani, «Cum Troie fu perie». Il Roman de Troie e le sue mises en prose », in Alfonso D'Agostino (a c. di), Il Medioevo degli antichi. I romanzi francesi della "Triade classica", Milano·Udine, Mimesis, 2013, p. 169-197.
Part B
At the beginning of the unit students will be provided with a booklet with excerpts from the works to be translated and commented in class and further materials. The examination of the texts should be accompanied by the following essays: Emmanuèle Baumgartner, Peinture et écriture: la description de la tente dans les romans antiques au XIIe siècle, in De l'histoire de Troie au livre du Graal: le temps, le récit, XIIe-XIIIe siècles, Orléans, Paradigme, 2004, 179-187; Luca Sacchi, I «Dichos de Leomarte» e le vie del compendio, «Carte Romanze» 5.2 (2017), pp. 7-43 (https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/carteromanze/article/view/9342 ); Clara Pascual-Argente, «Memory, Media, and Empire in the Castilian Romances of Antiquity: Alexander's Heirs», Leiden, Brill, 2022, pp. 188-247. Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students may use as support for textual analysis the entries on the works (and eventual commentary pages) contained in the aforementioned volume Alfonso D'Agostino, Le gocce d'acqua non hanno consumato i sassi di Troia.., Milano, Cuem 2006.
Part C
Students will combine their notes with: Clara Pascual-Argente, "De francés en castellano": La tradición manuscrita de la crónica troyana de Alfonso XI, «Troianalexandrina» 20 (2020), pp. 23-58; Rosa María Rodríguez Porto, Dark and elusive Fortune: Affectionate Readings of the Roman de Troie in Fourteenth-century Castile, in Costanza Cipollaro, Michael-Viktor Schwarz (hrsg. von), Alle Mären ein Herr: Ritterliches Troja in illuminierten Handschriften Wien, Boehlau Verlag, pp. 159-178; Laura Endress, Barbara Gwenaël Muller, Sur les traces textuelles et iconographiques du sagittaire dans les Histoires de Troie au Moyen Âge, «Encomia» 44 (2022), pp. 83-125 (DOI: 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-16726-6.p.0083). Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students may use the following volumes as support: Marc-René Jung, La légende de Troie en France au Moyen Âge. Analyse des versions françaises et bibliographie raisonnée des manuscrits, Basel·Tübingen, Francke, 1996; and Juan Casas Rigall, La materia de Troya en las letras romances del siglo XIII hispano, Santiago de Compostela, Universidad, 1999.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam is individual, and includes questions asked by the teacher, interactions between the teacher and student, and the translation and commentary of one or more excerpts from the works read during the lectures. The interview has a variable duration depending on the number of parts taken by the student; it aims to verify the knowledge relating to the historical-cultural context, the history of the works and their manuscript and printed tradition, as well as the ability to translate (or paraphrase) and comment on the texts read, as well as the ability to expose, the precision in the use of specific terminology, the capacity for critical and personal reflection on the proposed themes. Marks are out of 30, and the student has the right to refuse the proposed mark (in this case it will be verbalized as «withdrawn»).
International or Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the teacher early. The assessment procedures for students with disabilities and / or with DSA must be discussed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent Office.
International or Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the teacher early. The assessment procedures for students with disabilities and / or with DSA must be discussed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent Office.
Modules or teaching units
Part A and B
L-FIL-LET/09 - ROMANCE PHILOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Part C
L-FIL-LET/09 - ROMANCE PHILOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)
Reception:
By appointment only, wednesday 10.00-13.00
Teams class "Ricevimento Luca Sacchi"