Donato Albanzani’s Addition to Boccaccio’s De mulieribus claris, Between Latin and Italian Vernacular. Critical Edition and Comment of the Two Texts

Abstract

My essay contains a new critical edition of Donato Albanzani’s addition to Boccaccio’s De mulieribus claris (which protracts the narration up until the death of Queen Johanna I of Sicily and Jerusalem in 1382), both in the Latin and Italian vernacular versions. The two texts are introduced by a detailed study of
ms. Va (one of the oldest witnesses of Boccaccio’s De mulieribus, also containing Petrarch’s Latin translation of Decameron X, 10), and by an analysis of the editorial phases of Boccaccio’s work. Moreover, I provide ample commentary that compares the two versions, shedding light on their models and source, from classical works to Petrarch’s, and highlighting the importance of Flavius Josephus’s Antiquitates.