Arthur of the Italians

F. Regina Psaki is the Giustina Family Professor of Italian Language and Literature at the University of Oregon. She has translated three medieval romances: Tristano Riccardiano (2006), the Roman de la Rose ou de Guillaume de Dole (1995) and the Roman de Silence (1991). She also works on Dante, Boccaccio and medieval misogyny. Gloria Allaire is Senior Lecturer in Italian at the University of Kentucky. She is the author of numerous articles and contributions on Italian manuscripts, chivalric epic and romance. Her edited books include Il Tristano Panciatichiano and The Italian Novella.

• IntroductionF. Regina PsakiPart One France and Italy1Arthuriana in the Italian Regions of Medieval FrancophoniaKeith Busby2French Redactions in Italy: Rustichello da PisaFabrizio Cigni 3 From France to Italy: The Tristan TextsMarie-Jose Heijkant 4 The Italian Contribution: La Tavola RitondaDaniela Delcorno Branca Part Two Arthurian Material in Italian Narrative Forms5 Narrative Structure in Medieval Italian Arthurian RomanceStefano Mula 6 Arthurian Material in Italian Cantari Maria Bendinelli Predelli 7 Arthur as Renaissance EpicEleanora Stoppino Part Three Arthur Beyond Romance8 The Arthurian Presence in Early Italian LyricRoberta Capelli 9 Arthur in Medieval Italian Short Narrative F. Regina Psaki10The Arthurian Tradition in the Three CrownsChristopher Kleinhenz Part Four Arthur Beyond Literature11Arthur in Hagiography: The San Galgano LegendFranco Cardini 12 Owners and Readers of Arthurian Books in ItalyGloria Allaire 13 Arthurian Art in Italy Gloria Allaire Reference List: Arthurian Art in ItalyGloria Allaire

'Finally, a volume in English about Arthurian legend in Italy. This will be a welcome addition not only to the libraries of Italianists but also to those of medievalists, comparatists and general readers. New editions of texts as well as manuscript and artistic discoveries long ago outdated the few short chapters in English about Italian Arthuriana published in large part in the early to mid-twentieth century. This volume, with its broad range of interdisciplinary studies and up-to-date bibliography, will be become an essential point of departure for future research in the field.'- Dr Leslie Zarker Morgan, Loyola University Maryland. 'With this volume, Psaki and Allaire elevate the "third tier" of Arthurian literature to appropriate pre-eminence. Too long neglected, Italian Arthuriana is now for the first time in English given the scholarly introduction it deserves. A ground-breaking contribution to Arthurian scholarship, this volume should be essential reading for all students of the corpus.' - Dr Donald Hoffman, Northeastern Illinois University. 'These elegant and insightful essays will be a revelation to many Arthurian scholars, remedying the relative lack of Anglophone writing on the Italian tradition, and making available the fruits of recent scholarship in Italian. It is striking that Tristan was so much more popular in Italy than Lancelot, and interesting to meet new characters such as Morgan le Fay's daughter, the Gaia Donzela. The editors of this excellent volume certainly succeed in their aim of rescuing the Italian tradition from "benign neglect" by Anglophone scholars, and of showing how important it is to an understanding of the wider European Arthurian tradition.' - Professor Elizabeth Archibald, Durham University.