CHAPTER XVIII

THE _DECAMERON_

But we cannot leave him there. For he is not dead, but living; not only where, in the third heaven, he long since has found his own Fiammetta and been comforted, but in this our world also, where

"Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme."

And so for this cause, if for no other, it seemed well to leave our consideration of his greatest work till now; that we might take leave of him, when we must, in turning its ever-living pages.

The greatest story-teller in the world! Does that seem a hard saying? But by what other title shall we greet the author of the _Decameron_, who is as secure in his immortality and as great in his narrative power as the author of the _Arabian Nights_, and infinitely greater in his humanism and influence?

The greatest work of the fourteenth century, as the _Divine Comedy_ had been of the thirteenth, the _Decameron_ sums up and reflects its period altogether impersonally, while the _Divine Comedy_ would scarcely hold us at all without the impassioned personality of Dante to inform it everywhere with his profound life, his hatred, his love, his judgment of this world and the next. It is strange that the work which best represents the genius of Boccaccio, his humour and wide tolerance and love of mankind, should in this be so opposite to all his other works in the vulgar tongue, which are inextricably involved with his own personal affairs, his view of things, his love, his contempt, his hatred. Yet you will scarcely find him in all the hundred tales of the _Decameron_.[654] He speaks to us there once or twice, as we shall see, but always outside the stories, and his whole treatment of the various and infinite plots, incidents, and characters of his great work is as impersonal as life itself.

The _Decameron_ is an absolute work of art, as "detached" as a play by Shakespeare or a portrait by Velasquez. The scheme is formal and immutable, a miracle of design in which almost everything can be expressed. To compare it with the plan of the _Arabian Nights_ is to demonstrate its superiority. There you have a sleepless king, to whom a woman tells a thousand and one stories in order to save her life which this same king would have taken. You have, then, but two protagonists and an anxiety which touches but one of them, the fear of death on the part of the woman, soon forgotten in the excitement of the stories. In the _Decameron_, on the other hand, you have ten protagonists, three youths and seven ladies, and the horror which is designed to set off the stories is an universal pestilence which has already half depopulated the city of Florence, from which they are fled away.

The _mise en scène_ is so well known as scarcely to need describing, for the Prologue in which it is set forth is one of the most splendid pieces of descriptive narrative in all literature, impressionist too in our later manner, and absolutely convincing. Boccaccio evokes for us the city of Florence in the grip of the Black Death of 1348. We see the streets quite deserted or horrible with the dead, and over all a dreadful silence broken only by the more dreadful laughter of those whom the plague has freed from all human constraint. Fear has seized upon such of the living as death has not driven mad, "wherefore the sick of both sexes, whose number could not be estimated, were left without resource but in the charity of friends (and few such there were), or the interest of servants, who were hardly to be had at high rates and on unseemly terms, and being moreover men and women of gross understanding and for the most part unused to such offices, concerned themselves no further than to supply the immediate and expressed wants of the sick and to watch them die, in which service they themselves not seldom perished with their gains. In consequence of which dearth of servants and dereliction of the sick by neighbours, kinsfolk, and friends, it came to pass--a thing perhaps never before heard of--that no woman, however dainty, fair, or well born she might be, shrank, when stricken with the disease, from the attentions of a man, no matter whether he were young or no, or scrupled to expose to him every part of her body with no more shame than if he had been a woman, submitting of necessity to that which her malady required; wherefrom, perchance, there resulted in after time some loss of modesty in such as recovered.... What need we add, but that such and so grievous was the harshness of heaven, and perhaps in some degree of man, that, what with the fury of the pestilence, the panic of those whom it spared and their consequent neglect or desertion of not a few of the stricken in their need, it is believed without any manner of doubt, that between March and the ensuing July upwards of a hundred thousand human beings lost their lives within the walls of the city of Florence, which before the deadly visitation would not have been supposed to contain so many people! How many grand palaces, how many stately homes, how many splendid houses once full of retainers, of lords, of ladies, were now left desolate of all, even to the meanest servant!...

"Irksome it is to myself to rehearse in detail so mournful a history. Wherefore, being minded to pass over so much thereof as I fairly can, I say that our city being thus depopulated, it so happened, as I afterwards learned from one of credit, that on Tuesday morning after Divine service the venerable church of Santa Maria Novella was almost deserted save for the presence of seven young ladies, habited sadly, in keeping with the season.... The first, being the eldest of the seven, we will call Pampinea, the second Fiammetta, the third Filomena, the fourth Emilia, the fifth we will distinguish as Lauretta, the sixth as Neifile, and the last, not without reason, shall be named Elisa. 'Twas not of set purpose but by mere chance that these ladies met in the same part of the church, but at length, grouping themselves into a sort of circle, ... they gave up saying paternosters and began to converse (among other topics) on the times.... Here we tarry (said Pampinea) as if one thinks for no other purpose than to bear witness to the number of corpses that are brought hither for interment.... If we quit the church we see dead or sick folk carried about, or we see those who for their crimes were of late exiled, ... but who now in contempt of the law, well knowing its ministers are sick or dead, have returned.... Nor hear we aught but: Such and such are dead.... Such and such are dying.... Or go we home, what see we there? I know not if you are in like case with me; but there where once were servants in plenty I find none left but my maid and shudder with terror.... And turn or tarry where I may, I encounter only the ghosts of the departed, not with their wonted mien but with something horrible in their aspect that appals me.... So (she continues) I should deem it most wise in us, our case being what it is, if, as many others have done before us and are doing now, we were to quit the place, and shunning like death the evil example of others, betake ourselves to the country and there live as honourable women on one of the estates of which none of us has any lack, with all cheer of festal gathering and other delights so long as in no particular we overstep the bounds of reason. There we shall hear the chant of birds, have sight of green hills and plains, of cornfields undulating like the sea, of trees of a thousand sorts; there also we shall have a larger view of the heavens, which, however harsh to usward, yet deny not their eternal beauty; things fairer far for eyes to rest on than the desolate walls of our city.... For though the husbandmen die there even as here the citizens, they are dispersed in scattered homes, and so 'tis less painful to witness. Nor, so far as I can see, is there a soul here whom we shall desert; rather we may truly say that we are ourselves deserted.... No censure then can fall on us if we do as I propose; and otherwise grievous suffering, perhaps death, may ensue."

Pampinea's plan was received with eagerness, and while they were still discussing it there came into the church three young men, Pamfilo, Filostrato, and Dioneo, the youngest about twenty-five years of age. These seemed to the ladies to be sent by Providence, for their only fear till now had been in carrying out their plans alone. So Pampinea, who had a kinsman among them, approached them, and greeting them gaily, opened her plan, and besought them on behalf of herself and her friends to join their company. The young men as soon as they found she was in earnest answered with alacrity that they were ready, and promptly before leaving the church set matters in train for their departure, and the next day at dawn they set out. Arrived at the estate they entered a beautiful palace in the midst of a garden, and again it was Pampinea who proposed that one among them should be elected chief for a day so that each might be in turn in authority. They at once chose Pampinea, whom Filomena crowned with bay leaves. Later, towards evening, they "hied them to a meadow ... and at the queen's command ranged themselves in a circle on the grass and hearkened while she spoke thus: 'You mark that the sun is yet high, the heat intense, and the silence unbroken save by the _cicale_ among the olives. It were therefore the height of folly to quit this spot at present. Here the air is cool, and the prospect fair, and here, observe, are dice and chess. Take then your pleasure as you will; but if you hear my advice you will find pastime for the hot hours before us, not in play in which the loser must needs be vexed, ... but in telling stories in which the invention of one may afford solace to all the company of his hearers.'"

This was found pleasing to all, and so Pampinea turned at last to Pamfilo, who sat at her right hand, and bade him lead off with one of his stories. So begins the series of immortal tales which compose the _Decameron_.[655]

Such, then, is the incomparable design which the _Decameron_ fills, beside which the mere haphazard telling of _The Hundred Merry Tales_ seems barbarous, the setting of _The Thousand and One Nights_ inadequate. That Boccaccio's design has indeed ever been bettered might well be denied, but in _The Canterbury Tales_ Chaucer certainly equalled it. If the occasion there is not so dramatic nor the surroundings at once so poignant and so beautiful, the pilgrimage progresses with the tales and allows of such a dramatic entry as that of the Canon and the Canon's yeoman at Boghton-under-Blee. That entry was most fitting and opportune, right in every way, and though there is no inherent reason why the _Decameron_ itself should not have been similarly broken in upon, the very stillness of that garden in the sunshine would have made any such interruption less acceptable.[656]

The true weakness of the _Decameron_ in comparison with that of the _Canterbury Tales_ is not a weakness of design but of character. Each of Chaucer's pilgrims is a complete human being; they all live for us more vividly than any other folk, real or imagined, of the fourteenth century in England, and each is different from the rest, a perfect human character and personality. But in the protagonists of the _Decameron_ it is not so. There is nothing, or almost nothing, to choose between them. Pampinea is not different from Filomena,[657] and may even be confused with Pamfilo or Filostrato. We know nothing of them; they are without any character or personality, and indeed the only one of them all who stands out in any way is Dioneo, and that merely because he may usually be depended upon for the most licentious tale of the day.[658] In Chaucer the tales often weary us, but the tellers never do; in Boccaccio the tales never weary us, but the tellers always do. Just there we come upon the fundamental difference between English and what I may call perhaps Latin art. It is the same to-day as yesterday. In the work of D' Annunzio, as in the work of the French novelists of our time, it is always an affair of situation, that is to say, the narrative or drama rises out of the situation, rather than out of the character of the actors, while even in the most worthless English work there is, as there has always been, an attempt at least to realise character, to make it the fundamental thing in the book, from which the narrative proceeds and by which it lives and is governed.

In dealing with the _Decameron_, then, we must, more or less, leave the narrators themselves out of the question; they are not to be judged; they are but an excuse for the stories, and are really puppets who can in no way be held responsible for them, so that if now and then an especially licentious tale is told by one of those "virtuous" ladies, it is of no account, for the tales are altogether independent of those who tell them. But if these young and fair protagonists soon pass from our remembrance in the infinitely vivid and living stories they tell, yes, almost like a phonograph, the setting, the background of a plague-stricken and deserted city, the beauty and languorous peace of the delicious gardens in which we listen, always remain with us, so much so that tradition has identified the two palaces which are the setting of the whole _Decameron_ with two of those villas which are the glory of the Florentine _contado_.

The first of these palaces--that to which they came on that Wednesday morning--was, Boccaccio tells us, not more than "two short miles from the city" There "on the brow of the hill was a palace, with a fine and spacious courtyard in the midst, and with loggias and halls and rooms, all and each one in itself beautiful and ornamented tastefully with jocund paintings. It was surrounded too with grass plots and marvellous gardens, and with wells of coldest water, and there were cellars of rare wines, a thing perhaps more suited to curious topers than to quiet and virtuous ladies. And the palace was clean and in good order, the beds prepared and made, and everything decorated with spring flowers, and the floors covered with rushes, all much to their satisfaction." This "estate" has always been identified with Poggio Gherardo,[659] which now stands above the road to Settignano, about a mile from that village and some two miles from the Porta alle Croce of Florence. In the fourteenth century certainly it must have been equi-distant on all sides from the roads, the nearest being the Via Aretina Nuova by the Arno and the road to Fiesole or the Via Faentina, for the way from Florence to Settignano was a mule-track.

Poggio Gherardo is but a stone's throw from Corbignano, the country house--half farm, half villa--which Margherita brought to Boccaccino as part of her dowry, and where, as we have seen, it appears likely that Boccaccio spent his first youth. But Poggio Gherardo is not the only palace of the _Decameron_. At the close of the second day Madonna Filomena took the laurel crown from her head and crowned Neifile queen, and it was she who then proposed that they should change their residence.

"To-morrow, as you know," said she, "is Friday, and the next day is Saturday, and both are days which are apt to be tedious to most of us on account of the kind of food we take on them; and then Friday was the day on which He who died that we might live suffered His Passion, and it is therefore worthy of reverence, and ought, as I think, to be spent rather in prayer than in telling tales. And on Saturday it is the custom for women to wash the powder out of their hair, and make themselves generally sweet and neat; also they use to fast out of reverence for the Virgin Mother of God, and in honour of the coming rest from any and every work. Therefore, since we cannot, on that day either, carry out our established order of life, I think it would be well to refrain from reciting tales also. And as by then we shall have been here already four days, I think we might seek a new place if we would avoid visitors; and indeed I have already a spot in my mind."

And it happened as she said, for they all praised her words and looked forward longingly to Sunday.

On that very day the sun was already high when, "with slow steps, the queen with her friends and the three gentlemen, led by the songs of some twenty nightingales, took her way westward by an unfrequented lane full of green herbs and flowers just opening after the dawn. So, gossiping and playing and laughing with her company, she led them ... to a beautiful and splendid palace before half of the third hour was gone." It is by this "unfrequented lane" that we too may pass to the Villa Palmieri,[660] which tradition assures us is the very place. "When they had entered and inspected everything, and seen that the halls and rooms had been cleaned and decorated and plentifully supplied with all that was needed for sweet living, they praised its beauty and good order, and admired the owner's magnificence. And on descending, even more delighted were they with the pleasant and spacious courts, the cellars filled with choice wines, and the beautifully fresh water which was everywhere round about. Then they went into the garden, which was on one side of the palace, and was surrounded by a wall, and the beauty and magnificence of it at first sight made them eager to examine it more closely. It was crossed in all directions by long, broad, and straight walks, over which the vines, which that year made a great show of giving many grapes, hung gracefully in arched festoons, and being then in full blossom, filled the whole garden with their sweet smell, and this, mingled with the odours of the other flowers, made so sweet a perfume that they seemed to be in the spicy gardens of the East. The sides of the walks were almost closed with red and white roses and with jessamine, so that they gave sweet odours and shade not only in the morning, but when the sun was high, and one might walk there all day without fear. What flowers there were there, how various and how ordered, it would take too long to tell, but there was not one which in our climate is to be praised that was not found there abundantly. Perhaps the most delightful thing therein was a meadow in the midst, of the finest grass, and all so green that it seemed almost black, all sprinkled with a thousand various flowers, shut in by oranges and cedars, the which bore the ripe fruit and the young fruit too and the blossom, offering a shade most grateful to the eyes and also a delicious perfume. In the midst of this meadow there was a fountain of the whitest marble, marvellously carved and within--I do not know whether artificially or from a natural spring--threw so much water and so high towards the sky through a statue which stood there on a pedestal that it would not have needed more to turn a mill. The water fell back again with a delicious sound into the clear waters of the basin, and the surplus was carried off through a subterranean way into little water channels, most beautifully and artfully made about the meadow, and afterwards it ran into others round about, and so watered every part of the garden, and collected at length in one place, whence it had entered the beautiful garden, it turned two mills, much to the profit, as you may suppose, of the _signore_, pouring down at last in a stream clear and sweet into the valley."

If this should seem a mere pleasaunce of delight, the vision of a poet, the garden of a dream, we have only to remember how realistically and simply Boccaccio has described for us that plague-stricken city, scarcely more than a mile away, to be assured of its truthfulness. And then, Villa Palmieri is nearly as beautiful to-day as it was so long ago; only while the gardens with their pergolas of vines, their hedges of jasmine and crimson roses, their carved marble fountains remain, the two mills he speaks of are gone, having been destroyed in a flood of the Mugnone in 1409, less than sixty years after he wrote of them.

Nor are the two palaces the only places mentioned in the _Decameron_, set as it is in the country about Florence, that we may identify. It was a summer afternoon, six days had almost passed, Dioneo had just been crowned king by Madonna Elisa: the tales had been short that day, and the sun was yet high, so that Madonna, seeing the gentlemen were set down to play at dice (and "such is the custom of men"), called her friends to her and said: "'Ever since we have been here I have wished to show you a place not far off where, I believe, none of you has ever been; it is called La Valle delle Donne, and till to-day I have not had a chance to speak of it. It is yet early; if you choose to come with me, I promise you that you will be pleased with your walk.' And they answered they were all willing: so without saying a word to the gentlemen, they called one of their women to attend them, and after a walk of nearly a mile they came to the place which they entered by a strait path where there burst forth a fair crystal stream, and they found it so beautiful and so pleasant, especially in those hot still hours of afternoon, that nothing could excel it; and as some of them told me later, the little plain in the valley was an exact circle, as though it had been described by a pair of compasses, yet it was indeed rather the work of Nature than of man. It was about half a mile in circumference, surrounded by six hills of moderate height, on each of which was a palace built in the form of a little castle.... And then what gave them the greatest delight was the rivulet that came through a valley which divided two hills, and running through the rocks fell suddenly and sweetly in a waterfall seeming, as it was dashed and sprinkled in drops all about, like so much quicksilver. Coming into the little plain beneath this fall, the stream was received in a fine canal, and running swiftly to the midst of the plain formed itself in a pool not deeper than a man's breast and so clear that you might see the gravelly bottom and the pebbles intermixed, which indeed you might count; and there were fishes there also swimming up and down in great plenty; and the water that overflowed was received into another little canal which carried it out of the valley. There the ladies all came together, and ... finding it commendable ... did, as 'twas very hot and they deemed themselves secure from observation, resolve to take a bath. So having bidden their maid wait and keep watch over the access to the vale, and give them warning if haply any should approach it, they all seven undressed and got into the water, which to the whiteness of their flesh was even such a veil as fine glass is to the vermeil of the rose.[661] They being then in the water, the clearness of which was thereby in no wise affected, did presently begin to go hither and thither after the fish, which had much ado where to bestow themselves so as to escape out of their hands.... 'Twas quite early when they returned to the palace, so that they found the gallants still at play."

This delicious spot, called to this day the Valle delle Donne,[662] may be reached from the "unfrequented lane" by which they all passed from Poggio Gherardo to Villa Palmieri; as Landor, who lived close by, tells us:--

"Where the hewn rocks of Fiesole impend O'er Doccia's dell, and fig and olive blend, There the twin streams of Affrico unite, One dimly seen, the other out of sight, But ever playing in his swollen bed Of polisht stone and willing to be led Where clustering vines protect him from the sun-- Here by the lake Boccaccio's fair brigade Bathed in the stream and tale for tale repaid."

The hundred tales that were thus told in the shade of those two beautiful gardens may doubtless be traced to an infinite number of sources--Egyptian, Arabian, Persian, and French;[663] but these origins matter little. Boccaccio was almost certainly unaware of them, for the most part at any rate, gathering his material as he did from the tales he had heard, up and down Italy. Certainly to the Contes and Fabliaux of Northern France a third part of the _Decameron_ may be traced, much too to Indian and Persian sources, and a little to the _Gesta Romanorum_. But one might as well accuse Chaucer or Shakespeare of a want of originality because they took what they wanted where they found it, as arraign Boccaccio for a dependence he was quite unaware of on sources such as these.[664] He has made the tales his own. The _Decameron_ is a work of art, a world in itself, and its effect upon us who read it is the effect of life which includes, for its own good, things moral and immoral. The book has the variety of the world, and is full of an infinity of people, who represent for us the fourteenth century in Italy, in all its fullness, almost.[665] It deals with man as life does, never taking him very seriously, or without a certain indifference, a certain irony and laughter. Yet it is full too of a love of courtesy, of luck, of all sorts of adventures, both gallant and sad. In details, at any rate, it is true and even realistic, crammed with observation of those customs and types which made up the life of the time. It is dramatic, ironic, comic, tragic, philosophic, and even lyrical; full of indulgence for human error, an absolutely human book beyond any work of Dante's or Petrarch's or Froissart's. Even Chaucer is not so complete in his humanism, his love of all sorts and conditions of men. Perfect in organism, in construction, and in freedom, each of these tales is in some sort a living part of life and a criticism of it. Almost any one could be treated by a modern writer in his own way, and remain fundamentally the same and fundamentally true. What immorality there is, might seem owing rather to the French sources of some of the tales than to any invention on the part of Boccaccio, who, as we have seen, later came to deplore it. But we must remember that the book was written to give delight to "amorous" women, and women have always delighted in "immoral literature," and in fact write most of it to-day.[666] Yet only a Puritan, and he foul-minded, could call the _Decameron_ vicious, for it is purified with an immortal laughter and joy.

But it is in its extraordinary variety of contents and character that the _Decameron_ is chiefly remarkable. We are involved in a multitude of adventures, are introduced to innumerable people of every class, and each class shows us its most characteristic qualities. Such is Boccaccio's art, for the stories were not originally, or even as they are, ostensibly studies of character at all, but rather anecdotes, tales of adventure, stories of illicit love, good stories about the friars and the clergy and women, told for amusement because they are full of laughter and are witty, or contain a brief and ready reply with which one has rebuked another or saved himself from danger. But I have given the subjects of the stories of the _Decameron_ elsewhere.[667] Whatever they may be, and they are often of the best, of the most universal, they are not, for the real lover of the _Decameron_, the true reason why he goes to it always with the certainty of a new joy. The book is full of people, of living people, that is the secret of its immortality. Fra Cipolla, whom I especially love, Calandrino, whom I seem always to have known, poor Monna Tezza, his wife, whom at last he so outrageously gives away, Griselda, Cisti, the Florentine baker, the joyous Madonna Filippa, or Monna Belcolore should be as dear to us as any character in any book not by Shakespeare himself. They live for ever.

And yet it must be confessed that while the book is a mirror of the world, and doubtless as true to the life of its time as any book that was ever written, it lacks a certain idealism, a certain moral sense which is never absent from English work, and which, even from a purely æsthetic point of view, would have given a sort of balance or sense of proportion to the book, which, I confess, in my weaker moments, it has sometimes seemed to me it lacks.

It is true that Boccaccio deals with life and with life alone. It is true that life then as now made little of sexual morality. But with Boccaccio, as with almost all Latin art, sexual immorality usurps, or seems to us to usurp, a place out of all proportion to its importance in life. One is not always thinking of one's neighbour's wife, even though one should have the misfortune to affect her. Yet it is just there that Boccaccio's comic genius is seen at its best; it is his most frequent theme. And just there too we come upon the unreality of this most real book. His _spose_ are all beautiful young women who live in the arms of beautiful youths; they are nearly all adulteresses; Griselda, indeed, might seem to be the only faithful wife among them. Consider, then, the wife of Pietro di Vincolo,[668] who sells herself fresh and lovely as she is. Consider the pretty Prunella the Neapolitan, who abandons herself voluptuously in her husband's presence to Gianello Galeone.[669] She, like the rest, is not only without regret, but without scruple. They all have this extraordinary astuteness, this readiness of the devil. There is Sismonda, the wife of the rich merchant Arriguccio Berlinghieri.[670] There is Isabella, who loved Leonetto, and Monna Beatrice, who to her adultery adds contempt of her husband, when, victorious at last, trembling with voluptuousness, she kisses and re-kisses "the sweet mouth" of the happy and delighted Lodovico.[671] Nor is she by any means alone, they are all her sisters. Lydia[672] is even more wily, Bartolommea more shameless.[673]

And if the women are thus joyful, lustful, and cunning, the husbands are fools. Yet Boccaccio knows well how to draw the honest peasant, the hard-working artisan, the persistent and adventurous merchant, and a harder thing--the man of good society, such as Federigo degli Alberighi,[674] when he will.

What he cannot do is to compose a tragedy; he has not a sufficiently virile moral sense for it, and so just there he fails with the rest of his Latin brethren. But as a writer of comedy he is one of the greatest masters; and as a master of comedy he was in some degree at the mercy both of it and of his audience. This may excuse him perhaps for his too persistent stories about adulteries. The deceived husband was always a comic figure; he probably always will be. This being granted, we shall not judge the women of Boccaccio's time by his tales, and it might seem that we should discount in the same way his stories about the clergy. Like every other comic master, he naturally finds some of his choicest material among them, who always have been, are now, and ever will be a never-failing source of amusement. But here we must go warily, for Boccaccio's treatment of the clergy might almost be said to exhaust what little moral indignation he was possessed of. "I have spoken the truth about the friars," he tells us with an immense relief in the conclusion to his work, and if he had not time, courage, or opportunity to tell us the truth about the monks, the nuns, and the secular clergy, he has left us, it must be confessed, some very remarkable evidence. His whole attitude of attack is different when he exposes the clergy; moreover, while we have no evidence at all in support of his supposed representation of the married woman as universally adulterous--and it may be questioned whether it was his intention to leave us with any such impression--we have ample evidence from the best possible sources of the frightful wickedness, immorality, and general rottenness of the clergy, both religious and secular, monks, friars, nuns, and priests. We have only to consult the pages of S. Catherine of Siena[675] to find every separate accusation of Boccaccio's confirmed ten times over, with a hundred others added to them which he has failed to bring forward. Nor is it only in the mouth of S. Catherine that Boccaccio is justified. Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, had long ago informed Innocent IV that the Curia was the source of all that vileness which rendered the priesthood a reproach to Christianity. Alexander IV himself described the corruption of the people as proceeding from the clergy. What this had become after the Black Death we know not only from Boccaccio, Petrarch, and S. Catherine, but from every writer of the time. The Church was rotten to the core, she seemed about to sink for ever into the pit of her abominations. Consider, then, what such a beast as the priest of Varlungo must have been in a village; consider the rector of Fiesole. Is Boccaccio's irony too bitter? Is it any wonder that Monna Belcolore answers the wolf of Varlungo, "There is never a one of you priests but would overreach the very devil."

As for the friars, we should not recognise in any one of them the brother of S. Francis or S. Dominic. Consider them then: Fra Cipolla[676] is a lovely rogue of the best; who more cunning than Fra Alberto da Imola;[677] who more eagerly wily than Fra Rinaldo;[678] who more goat-like and concupiscent than Fra Rustico? The only son of S. Francis illumined with light and piety is the confessor of Ser Ciappelletto,[679] and he has no name, and is, I fear, quickly forgotten.

Nor have we better news of the nuns[680] or the monks,[681] and indeed, so far as the clergy are concerned, the _Decameron_ is as eager in its attack on wickedness as the _Divine Comedy_ itself, though its justice is tempered with kindness and its scorn with a sort of pity, a sort of understanding.

And indeed, if we compare the book with that of Dante, a much greater man, it holds its own because of its humanity. Dante puts the centre of gravity into the next world. He hates this world almost without ceasing, and has dared to arraign it before his hatred. His satire is cruel, unjust, intolerant, and vindictive. Of course we are wont to excuse all this on account of the genius which it expressed, of its sincerity and beauty of form. Boccaccio, however, with less than half Dante's genius, was not subject to his madness. He was content to satirise what is bad, the bad customs of ecclesiastics and of fools; but he excuses and pardons all too because of the "misfortunes of the time," and above all he understands.

But if we may not compare the _Decameron_, the Human Comedy, with the _Divine Comedy_ of Dante as a work of art, we may claim for it that it was the greatest though not quite the first prose work in the Tuscan tongue. But Italian prose maybe said to consist of the _Decameron_ alone for a hundred years after Boccaccio's death. It is written in a very beautiful but very complicated style, a sort of poetical prose--exquisite, it is true, but often without simplicity. Yet who will dare to attack it? It has justified itself, if need be, as every great work has done, by its appeal to mankind, its utter indifference to criticism.

That the _Decameron_, though widely read and enthusiastically received, was censured very strongly in its own day we gather from the Proem to the Fourth Day and from the Conclusion to the work; while later the book did not escape the knife of the Church, though it was never suppressed.[682] That it was enthusiastically received in its day we know from contemporary documents,[683] and though Petrarch failed to understand it, he praised it in certain places, which were those, it seems, that were the most rhetorical. He translated the last tale of Griselda into Latin, however, but as he tells us, he had known this for many years. Petrarch, however, stood alone; from the day the _Decameron_ was finished its influence both in Italy and abroad was very great.

The original manuscript has disappeared, and the oldest we possess seems to be that written in 1368 by Francesco Mannelli, though the later Hamilton MS. now in Berlin is the better of the two.[684] More than ten editions were, however, printed in the fifteenth century, and some seventy-seven in the sixteenth; while there is not a _Novelliere_ in Italian literature for many centuries who has not inspired himself with the _Decameron_. Its fortune abroad was almost equally good. Hans Sachs, Molière, La Fontaine,[685] Lope de Vega, to mention only European names, were in its debt; and in England our greatest poets have drawn from it, once the form and often the substance of their work. One has only to name Chaucer, Sir Philip Sidney, Shakespeare, Dryden,[686] Keats,[687] and Tennyson[688] to suggest England's debt to Boccaccio. And although our prose literature, strangely enough, produced no great original example of this school of fiction, its influence was shown by the number of translations and imitations of the "mery bookes of Italy," when, according to Ascham, "a tale of Bocace was made more account of than a story out of the Bible."[689]

In his _Praise of Poets_, Thomas Churchyard, referring to Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, says--

"In Italy of yore did dwell Three men of special spreete, Whose gallant stiles did sure excell, Their verses were so sweet"

Of these three great Italians Dante was by far the least known, and William Thomas, in his _Dictionarie_ (1550) defines "Dante Aldighieri" as "the name of a famous poet in the Italian tongue," while he does not think it necessary to explain who Petrarch and Boccaccio are.[690] Sir Philip Sidney, it is true, refers to Dante several times, with the other two, and even mentions Beatrice in his _Defence of Poesie_, yet there is no trace of Dante's influence in his work. The only writer after Chaucer who shows internal evidence of knowing Dante fairly well is Sir John Harrington, the translator of _Orlando Furioso_. In his _Apology of Poetry_ he refers to Dante's relations to Virgil, and in the _Allegorie_ of the fourth book of his translation he translates the first five lines of the _Inferno_:--

"While yet my life was in the middle race I found I wandered in a darksome wood, The right way lost with mine unsteadie pace ..."[691]

Spenser does not mention Dante though he used him; but in the Epistle to Gabriel Harvey prefixed to the _Shepherd's Calendar_ he speaks of Boccaccio as well as of Petrarch and others.

That Boccaccio was well known in England, at least by name, in the fourteenth century, seems certain. Sacchetti (1335-1400) in the Proemio to his _Novelle_ writes as follows: "... and taking into consideration the excellent Florentine poet Messer Giovanni Boccaccio, who wrote the Book of the Hundred Tales in one material effort of his great intellect, ... that (book) is so generally published and sought after, that even in France and England they have translated it into their language ... and I, Franco Sacchetti, though only a rude and unrefined man, have made up my mind to write the present work." All trace of any such translation, if indeed it was ever made, has been lost.[692] In fact, it might seem that the only man in England at that time really capable of carrying out such a task, worthily at least, was Geoffrey Chaucer, who, though for some reason we can never know he refused to mention Boccaccio's name, adapted and translated the _Teseide_, the _Filostrato_, and it seems, three tales from the _Decameron_--the first of the Eighth Day, the fifth of the Tenth Day, and the tenth of the Tenth Day.[693] May it not have been Chaucer's work to which Sacchetti referred? It was not until 1566 that any translation even of isolated stories from the _Decameron_ appeared; in that year and the following Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_ was published, which contained sixteen stories translated from the _Decameron_. Then in 1579 came the _Forest of Fancy_, by H. C., in which two more appeared, while Tarlton's _News out of Purgatorie_ (1590) contained four more, and the _Cobler of Caunterburie_, published in the same year, two more. These and other translations of isolated stories will best be shown by a table.[694] Such were the stories from the _Decameron_ that had been translated in English when in 1620 the first practically complete edition appeared, translated inaccurately, but very splendidly, apparently from the French version of Antoine Le Macon. Isaac Jaggard published it, in folio in two parts, with woodcuts, and the title bore no translator's name. In 1625 this edition was reprinted, the title bearing the legend "Isaac Jaggard for M. Lownes":[695] other editions appeared in 1655 and 1657 and 1684, making five editions in all during the seventeenth century. In 1700 Dryden's translations appeared of the _Three Tales: Decameron_, IV 1, V 1, and V 8. A new translation, practically complete, appeared in 1702, and was, I think, twice reprinted in 1722 and 1741. Certainly eight editions were published in the nineteenth century[696] and two have appeared already in the twentieth.[697] The first really complete translation to appear in English, however, was that of Mr. John Payne, printed for the Villon Society (1886), but the first complete translation to pass into general circulation was that of Mr. J. M. Rigg, 1896-1905, which is rendered with a careful accuracy and much spirit.

"The ordinary recreations which we have in Winter," says Burton in the _Anatomy of Melancholy_, "and in most solitary times busy our minds with, are Cards, Tables and Dice, Shovel-board, Chess-play, the Philosopher's game, Small Trunks, Shuttle-cock, Billiards, Musick, Masks, Singing, Dancing, Yulegames, Frolicks, Jests, Riddles, Catches, Purposes, Questions and Commands, Merry Tales of Errant Knights, Queens, Lovers, Lords, Ladies, Giants, Dwarfs, Thieves, Cheaters, Witches, Fairies, Goblins, Friars, etc., such as the old women told [of] Psyche in Apuleius, Boccaccio's Novels and the rest, _quarum auditione pueri delectantur, senes narratione_, which some delight to hear, some to tell, all are well pleased with."

Well, after all, we are our fathers' sons, and (God be thanked) there are still winter evenings in which, while the rest are occupied with Burton's frolicks and jests, dancing and singing and card-play, we, in some cosy place, may still turn the old immortal pages.

FOOTNOTES:

[654] The title _Il Decameron_ is badly composed from two Greek words, δέκα, ten, and ἡμέρα, day--ten days. Cf. TEZA, _La parola Decameron_ in _Propugnatore_ (1889), II, p. 311 _et seq._, and RAJNA, _op. cit._, who shows that the proper form is Decameron, not Decamerone. Later some one added the sub-title "cognominato il Principe Galeotto"; cf. _Inferno_, V, 137.

[655] Cf. ALBERTAZZI, _I novellatori e le novellatrici del Dec._ in _Parvenze e Sembianze_ (Bologna, 1892); GEBHART, _Le prologue du Dec. et la Renaissance_ in _Conteurs Florentins_ (Hachette, 1901), p. 65 _et seq._; MORINI, _Il prologo del Dec._ in _Rivista Pol. e Lett._, xvi. 3.

[656] The only interruption of the _Decameron_, if so it can be called, is the introduction of Tindaro and Licisca at the beginning of the sixth day. The diversion, however, has very little consequence.

[657] A few things we may gather, however. Pampinea was the eldest (Proem), and by inference Elisa the youngest. Some of the ladies were of Ghibelline stock (X, 8). For what life ingenuity can find in them, see HAUVETTE, _Les Ballades du Décaméron_ in _Journal des Savants_ (Paris, September, 1905), p. 489 _et seq._

[658] He also tells two of the best tales in the book, that of Fra Cipolla and the Relics (VI, 10), and of the Patient Griselda (X, 10). These are the only stories he tells which are not licentious.

[659] See MANCINI, _Poggio Gherardo, primo ricetto alle novellatrici del B., frammento di R. Gherardo_, etc. (Firenze, 1858); and _Florentine Villas_ (Dent, 1901), by JANET ROSS, p. 131. Mrs. Ross owns Poggio Gherardo to-day. Mr. J. M. Rigg denies that Poggio Gherardo is the place, but gives no reasons save that it does not tally with the description, which is both true and untrue. It tallies as well as it could do after more than five hundred years; and perfectly as regards situation and distance from the city and the old roads. Cf. my _Country Walks about Florence_ (Methuen, 1908), cap. i.

[660] See my _Country Walks about Florence_ (Methuen, 1908), pp. 23 and 26 _et seq._ Mr. J. M. Rigg, in the introduction to his translation of the _Decameron_ (Routledge, 1905), here again denies the identity of Villa Palmieri with the second palace of the _Decameron_. He says it does not stand "on a low hill" amid a plain, but on "the lower Fiesolan slope." But Boccaccio even in Mr. Rigg's excellent translation does not say that, but "they arrived at a palace ... which stood _somewhat from the plain_, being situate upon a low eminence." This exactly describes Villa Palmieri, as even a casual glance at a big map will assure us.

[661] No doubt a vivid reminiscence of Madonna Fiammetta at Baia.

[662] See my _Country Walks about Florence_ (Methuen, 1908), p. 23 _et seq._ The place has been drained to-day, and is now a garden of vines and olives in the _podere_ of Villa Ciliegio belonging to A. W. Benn, Esq., whose kindness and courtesy in permitting me to see the place I wish here to acknowledge.

[663] Cf. MANNI, _Istoria del Decamerone_ (Firenze, 1742); BARTOLI, _I precursi del B._ (Firenze, 1876); LANDAU, _Die Quellen des Dekam_. (Stuttgart, 1884); CAPPELLETTI, _Osserv. e notiz. sulle fonti del Decam._ (Livorno, 1891).

[664] No doubt most of these stories were current up and down Italy.

[665] As with Shakespeare so with Boccaccio, the religious temperament is not represented.

[666] PINELLI, _La moralità nel Decam._ in _Propugnatore_ (1882), xv and xvi; also DEJOB, _A propos de la partie honnête du Décam._ in _Revue Universitaire_ (July 15, 1900).

[667] See Appendix VIII, p. 367 _et seq._

[668] _Decameron_, V, 10.

[669] _Ibid._, VII, 2.

[670] _Ibid._, VII, 8.

[671] _Ibid._, VII, 7.

[672] _Ibid._, VII, 9.

[673] _Ibid._, II, 10.

[674] _Ibid._, V, 9.

[675] But we must be careful of our edition if we read her only in English. Some time since Mr. Algar Thorold published a fine translation of _The Dialogue of S. Catherine of Siena_ (Kegan Paul), and here all the evidence needed can be found. But of late a "new edition" (1907) has appeared with the respectable "imprimatur" of the Catholic authorities, but all the evidence against the clergy has been omitted, probably to obtain the "imprimatur." See _infra_ p. 310, n. 1. S. Catherine's impeachment of the clergy will be found in the section of her book called _Il Trattato delle Lagrime_. A summary of the evidence will be found in Mr. E. G. GARDNER'S excellent _S. Catherine of Siena_ (Dent, 1907), p. 361 _et seq._ Mr. Gardner adds that "the student ... is compelled to face the fact that the testimony of Boccaccio's _Decameron_ is confirmed by the burning words of a great saint."

[676] _Decameron_, VI, 10.

[677] _Ibid._, VI, 2.

[678] _Ibid._, VII, 3

[679] _Ibid._, I, 1.

[680] _Ibid._, III, 1; IX, 2.

[681] _Ibid._, III, 4.

[682] Cf. BIAGI, _La Rassettatura del Decamerone_ in _Aneddoti Letterari_ (Milan, 1887), p. 262 _et seq._, and FOSCOLO, _Disc. sul testo del D._ in _Opere_ (Firenze, 1850), III. The facts seem quite clear about the action of the Church with regard to the _Decameron_. It was condemned by the Council of Trent. The earliest edition of the _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_ in which I have found it, is that published in Rome in 1559. Since then it has figured in every Roman edition of the Index (as far as I have tested them), the entry against it being "Donec expurg. Ind. Trent," which means, "Until expurgated, indexed by the Council of Trent." It appears to have remained thus provisionally condemned and prohibited until the last years of the nineteenth century. I find it still in the Index of 1881; but it no longer figures in that of 1900. The amusing point is that the Church does not seem to have minded the licentiousness of the tales as such; but to have objected to them being told of Monks, Friars, Nuns, and the Clergy, in regard to whom, as we have seen, they were merely the truth. Editions with a clerical "imprimatur" have been always published where laymen have been substituted for these. For instance, the edition printed in Florence, 1587, "con permissione de' superiori," etc., substitutes the avarice of magistrates for the hypocrisy of the clergy in _Dec._, I, 6.

[683] Cf. BIAGI, _Il Decameron giudicato da un contemporaneo_ in _op. cit._, p. 377 _et seq._

[684] Cf. HAUVETTE, _Della parentela esistente fra il MS. berlinese del Dec. e il codice Mannelli_ in _Giorn. St. d. Lett. It._ (1895), XXXI, p. 162 _et seq._

[685] In _Sylvia_, Alfred de Musset says very happily, "La Fontaine a ri dans Boccace où Shakespeare fondait en pleurs."

[686] In his _Cimon_, _Sigismonda_, and _Theodore_ he used Nov. v. 1, iv. 1, and v. 8 respectively.

[687] In his _Isabella_ (iv. 5).

[688] In his _Falcon_ (v. 9) and _Golden Supper_ (x. 4).

[689] Nevertheless I think it probable that the reason the _Decameron_ had, as a work of art, so little influence on our prose literature may have been the publication of King James's Bible in 1611, nine years before the complete translation of the _Decameron_ (1620).

[690] On the other hand, though Chaucer was considerably in Boccaccio's debt, he never mentions his name, but, as we know, he speaks of Dante and Petrarch.

[691] Cf. KUHNS, _Dante and the English Poets_ (New York, 1904), and PAGET TOYNBEE, _Dante in English Literature_ (Methuen, 1909).

[692] Cf. H. C. COOTE in _Athenæum_, 7th June, 1884, No. 2954.

[693] If Dante moved Chaucer most, it is from Boccaccio he borrows most. _Troilus and Criseyde_ is to a great extent a translation of the _Filostrato_. Cf. ROSSETTI, W. M., _Chaucer's "Troylus and Criseyde" compared with Boccaccio's "Filostrato"_ (Chaucer Society, 1875 and 1883). The _Knightes Tale_ is a free rendering of the _Teseide_. The design of the _Canterbury Tales_ was in some sort modelled on the design of the _Decameron_. As we have seen, _The Reeves Tale_, _The Frankeleynes Tale_, _The Schipmannes Tale_ are all found in the _Decameron_, though it is doubtful perhaps whether Chaucer got them thence. _The Monks Tale_ is from _De Casibus Virorum_.

Did Chaucer meet Petrarch and Boccaccio in Italy? He seems to wish to suggest that he had met the former at Padua, but, as I have said, of the latter he says not a word, but gives "Lollius" as his authority when he uses Boccaccio's work. Cf. Dr. KOCH'S paper in _Chaucer Society Essays_, Pt. IV. JUSSERAND in _Nineteenth Century_, June, 1896, and in reply BELLEZZA in _Eng. Stud._, 23 (1897), p. 335.

[694] Cf. KOEPPEL, _Studien zur Geschichte der Italienischen Novelle in der Englischen Litteratur des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts_ in _Quellen und Forschungen zur Sprach und Culturgeschichte der germanischen Volkes_ (Strassburg, 1892), Vol. LXX.

DECAMERON, DAY I. Nov. 3 Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, I. 30 (1566). " I. " 5 " " " II. 16 (1567). " I. " 8 " " " I. 31. " I. " 10 " " " I. 32. " II. " 2 " " " I. 33. " II. " 3 " " " I. 34. " II. " 4 " " " I. 35. " II. " 5 " " " I. 36. " II. " 6 Greene's _Perimedes the Blacksmith_ (1588). " II. " 8 Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, I. 37. " II. " 9 _Westward for Smelts_, by Kind Kit of Kingston, II. (1620). " III. " 5 H. C.'s _Forest of Fancy_, I. (1579). " III. " 9 Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, I. 38. " IV. " 1 " " " I. 39 and others. " IV. " 2 Tarlton's _News out of Purgatorie_, 2 (1590). " IV. " 4 Turbeville's _Tragical Tales_, 6 (ca. 1576). " IV. " 5 " " " 7. " IV. " 7 " " " 9. " IV. " 8 " " " 10. " IV. " 9 " " " 4. " V. " 1 _A Pleasant and Delightful History of Galesus, Cymon and Iphigenia_, etc. by T. C. gent. _Ca._ 1584. " V. " 2 Greene's _Perimedes the Blacksmith_. " V. " 7 H. C.'s _Forest of Fancy_, II. " V. " 8 _A notable History of Nastagio and Traversari_, etc., trs. in English verse by C. T. (1569), and Turbeville, I., and _Forest of Fancy_. " VI. " 4 Tarlton's _News_, No. 4. " VI. " 10 " No. 5. " VII. " 1 _The Cobler of Caunterburie_, No. 2. " VII. " 4 _Westward for Smelts_, No. 3. " VII. " 5 Cf. Thomas Twyne's _Schoolmaster_ (1576). " VII. " 6 Tarton's _News_, No. 7. " VII. " 7 _Hundred Mery Talys_, No. 3 (1526). " VII. " 8 _The Cobler of Caunterburie._ " VIII. " 4 _Nachgeahunt_ of Whetstone (1583). " VIII. " 7 Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, II. 31. " IX. " 2 Thomas Twyne's _Schoolmaster_. William Warner's _Albion's England_ (1586-1592). " IX. " 6 Cf. _A Right Pleasant Historie of the Mylner of Abingdon_ (?). " X. " 3 Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, II. 18. " X. " 4 " " " II. 19. " X. " 5 " " " II. 17. " X. " 8 _The History of Tryton and Gesyppustrs_, out of the Latin by William Wallis (?), and _The Boke of the Governours_ by Sir Thomas Elyot, lib. II. cap. xii. (1531). " X. " 9 Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_,{*} II. 20. " X. " 10 _The Pleasant and Sweet History of Patient Grissel_ (?) and another (1619).

{*} Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_ is almost certainly the source of the Tales of Boccaccio which Shakespeare used.

[695] This first translation has been reprinted by Mr. Charles Whibley in _The Tudor Translations_ (4 vols., David Nutt, 1909), with an introduction by Edward Hutton. In it the story of Fra Rustico (III, 10) has been omitted by the anonymous translator, and a harmless Scandinavian tale substituted for it.

[696] In 1804, 1820, 1822, 1846 (1875), 1884, 1886, 1896.

[697] A reprint of the 1896 edition of the _Decameron_ translated by J. M. Rigg, with J. A. Symonds's essay as Introduction (Routledge, 1905), and the edition spoken of _supra_, n. 2.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I

THE DATES OF BOCCACCIO'S ARRIVAL IN NAPLES AND OF HIS MEETING WITH FIAMMETTA

That the date of the arrival of Boccaccio in Naples commonly accepted, namely the end of 1330, is inadmissible, has, I think, been proved by DELLA TORRE (_op. cit._, caps. ii. and iii.), who gives us many good reasons to think that the true date was December 13, 1323. With his conclusions I agree, nor do I see how they are easily to be put aside.

To begin with, the departure of Idalagos in the _Filocolo_[698] forms part of the same episode as the birth of the _fratellastro_, so that it would seem the two events cannot have been separated by any great length of time; certainly not by nine years, which would be the case if Boccaccio really left Florence in 1330, for Francesco the _fratellastro_ was born in 1321.[699]

Again, Boccaccio tells us that at the time of his departure Idalagos was "semplice e lascivo,"[700] which would scarcely be epithets to apply to a youth of seventeen years. And then, even though we pass that, what are we to think of a youth of seventeen who is so mortally afraid of his stepmother and his little brother, aged say nine, that to save his life, as he thinks, he runs away? Certainly this youth is very unlike Boccaccio. Whatever the date may be, then, the year 1330 would seem to be out of the question.

At that time it was the custom of men to divide human life into seven ages, as Shakespeare records later. These seven ages we find were Infanzia, Puerizia, Gioventù or Adolescenza, Virilità, Vecchiaia, and Decrepitezza. The first three of these ages corresponded to the following years, thus:--[701]

Infanzia 1-7 Puerizia 7-14 Adolescenza 14-21

Now Boccaccio tells us quite clearly, "io ... _fanciullo_ cercai i regni Etrurii, e di quelli _in più ferma età_ venuto, qui [that is to Naples] venni."[702] That is to say: "I came to Tuscany before I was seven years old, and during my boyhood (Puerizia) between the ages of seven and fourteen, between the years 1320-1327, I came to Naples."

Does that seem a little far-fetched, a little as though we were trying to prove too much, with such vague words? Let us have patience. When after six years with the merchant in Naples, Boccaccio is abandoned by Abrotonia and Pampinea, they appear to him in a dream and tell him it was not for them he really sang, but for another. Then there comes to him a dream in which he sees this other, and recognises her as the lady who had welcomed him to Naples--"questa era colei, che _nella mia puerizia vegnendo a questi luoghi_, apparitami e baciatomi, lieta m' avea la venuta profferta."[703] Nor does this passage stand alone. When on Holy Saturday he sees Fiammetta face to face, he recognises her as the lady who had lately appeared to him it is true, but first--"Questa è colei che _nella mia puerizia_ e non ha gran tempo ancora, m' apparve ne' sonni miei...." Now _puerizia_, boyhood, fell, as we have seen, between the ages of seven and fourteen--between the years 1320 and 1327 in Boccaccio's case.

To clinch the matter, as we might think, in the _De Genealogiis_, xv. 10, Boccaccio tells us that he entered the merchant's office before he was adolescent--"adolescentium nondum intrantem," that is to say before he was fifteen and before the year 1328. So that it might seem to be proved not only that he came to Naples before 1330, but that he came to Naples between the years 1320 and 1327. Now old Boccaccio himself came to Naples in the autumn of 1327--did Boccaccio then come with him? This at first sight seems likely; let us enquire into it.

In the _De Genealogiis_, xv. 10, Boccaccio tells us that he was six years with the merchant, wasting his time, "Sex annis nil aliud feci quam non recuperabile tempus in vacuum terere." That is to say, if he came to Naples with his father in 1327, he was still with the merchant in 1333, when he was twenty years old. But Benvenuto da Imola[704] seems to tell us that Boccaccio was sixteen when he began to study Canon Law; in other words, if we read that author aright, Boccaccio began to study Canon Law in 1329. This will not square with the theory that he came to Naples in 1327, but it admirably fits our claim that he came to Naples in 1323, and after six years with a merchant began to study Canon Law in 1329, when he was sixteen years old.

But we know that whatever else may be insecure in this question, it is at least certain that the departure of Boccaccio for Naples took place before the meeting with Fiammetta, for it was in Naples that he first saw her. At first sight this might seem to help us little, for the date of the meeting with Fiammetta is more disputed than anything else in Boccaccio's chronology, the date usually given being either 27th March, 1334, or 11th April, 1338.[705] We do not accept either of these dates. However, let us examine what evidence we have. In the introduction to the _Filocolo_ Boccaccio tells us that he first saw and fell in love with Fiammetta on that Holy Saturday which fell in the sixteenth _grado_ after the sun was entered into Aries. I give the whole passage, as the argument depends upon it:--

"Avvene che un giorno, la cui prima ora Saturno avea signoreggiata, essendo già Febo co' suoi cavalli al sedecimo grado del celestiale Montone pervenuto, e nel quale il glorioso partimento del figliuolo di Giove dagli spogliati regni di Plutone si celebrava, io, della presente opera componitore, mi trovai in un grazioso e bel tempio in Partenope, nominato da colui che per deificarsi sostenne che fosse fatto di lui sacrificio sopra la grata, e quivi con canto pieno di dolce melodia ascoltava l' uficio che in tale giorno si canta, celebrato da' sacerdoti successori di colui che prima la corda cinse umilemente esaltando la povertade quella seguendo. Ove io dimorando, e già essendo secondo che il mio intelletto estimava la quarta ora del giorno sopra l' orientale orizzonte passata, apparve agli occhi miei le mirabile bellezza della prescritta giovane...."[706]

The whole question is then: on what day did the sun enter Aries, in other words, on what day did Spring begin. We seem to be on the point of solving the difficulty by answering that question--an easy task--for sixteen days afterwards in the year we seek it was Holy Saturday, and Boccaccio then saw Fiammetta for the first time. The solution is, however, on consideration, not quite so simple. We have to ask not only when did Spring begin, but on what day did Boccaccio think it began; when did he think the sun entered Aries?

As we know, Chaucer, Boccaccio's contemporary, thought Spring began on 12th March,[707] but Chaucer's "Treatise on the Astrolabe" was written in 1391, more than fifty years after the _Filocolo_.

All sorts of opinions have been expressed by scholars as to the date that was in Boccaccio's mind as that which marked the entry of the sun into Aries. Baldelli[708] thinks it was March 21st; Witte[709] and Koerting[710] say the 25th; Casetti[711] says the 14th; and Landau[712] says the 11th. The whole question is more or less complicated by the fact that the Julian Calendar was in use.

We shall, then, find ourselves in agreement with many good scholars if we say that Boccaccio thought Spring began on the 25th March (see _infra_), and calculating thus, we shall find that he first met Fiammetta on April 11th, 1338, when he was twenty-five years old.[713] This, however, is only conjecture.

If we ask ourselves, then, on what day Spring really did begin, we shall find ourselves in agreement with Casetti, who names the 14th March. Why should Boccaccio have been ignorant of this? He cannot have been ignorant of it. Are all his studies with Calmeta and Andalò di Negro to go for nothing? He must have known when Spring began better than most men. If then we take the 14th March as the date and add the sixteen _gradi_ to it, we arrive at the 30th. Now Holy Saturday fell on the 30th March in 1331 and in 1336. Which of these two dates is the true one? The earlier we think.

If for the moment we admit that he came to Naples in 1323, he must have met Fiammetta in 1331, not in 1336, for he himself gives us to understand that seven years and four months passed between his advent and that Holy Saturday.[714] It seems then most likely that he left home in 1323 and saw Fiammetta for the first time in 1331. If we argue back from the year 1336 (and, as has been shown, he met Fiammetta certainly either in 1331 or in 1336), we find that he left home in 1329, when he was sixteen. That would be open to as many objections as the year 1330 (see _supra_). Without actual certainty we may claim that the years 1323 and 1331 that have a secure relationship exactly fit in with all the secondary evidence that has been brought to bear upon the argument.

Our conclusions are then: that Boccaccio entered Naples in December, 1323; that he was with a merchant for six years, till 1329, in which year he began to study Canon Law. For sixteen months he had followed this study (so that he left the merchant in the winter of 1329), when on Holy Saturday, March 30, 1331, at the age of eighteen, he first saw and fell in love with Fiammetta.[715]

FOOTNOTES:

[698] _Filacolo_ (_ed. cit._), ii. pp. 242-3. I give the whole passage for the sake of clearness: "Ma non lungo tempo quivi ricevuti noi dimorò, che abbandonata la semplice giovane [i.e. Giannai or Jeanne; he is speaking of his father] e l' armento tornò ne' suoi campi, e quivi appresso noi si tirò, e non guari lontano al suo natal sito la promessa fede a Giannai ad un altra, Garamita chiamata, ripromise e servò, di cui nuova prole dopo piccolo spazio riceveo. Io semplice e lascivo, come già dissi, le pedate dello ingannator padre seguendo, volendo un giorno nella paternal casa entrare, due orsi ferocissimi e terribili mi vidi avanti con gli occhi ardenti desiderosi della mia morte, de' quali dubitando io volsi i passi miei e da quell' ora innanzi sempre d' entrare in quella dubitai. Ma acciocchè io più vero dica, tanta fu la paura, che abbandonati i paternali campi, in questi boschi venni l' apparato uficio a operare...."

[699] The document quoted by DELLA TORRE, _op. cit._, p. 24, seems to prove that Francesco was born in 1321.

[700] Cf. DANTE, _Paradiso_, v. 82-4.

[701] Cf. S. ISIDORO DI SIVIGLIA, _Origines_ in _Opera Omnia_ (Paris, 1580), cap. 75. Also PAPIA, _Elementarium_ (Milan, 1476), under _Aetas_; and see DELLA TORRE, _op. cit._, p. 73.

[702] _Ameto_ (_ed. cit._), p. 225.

[703] _Ibid._, p. 227.

[704] See G. BETUSSI, _La Genealogia degli Dei di Boccaccio_ (Venice, 1547). Cf. DELLA TORRE, _op. cit._, p. 123. The evidence is not good enough to base an argument on unsupported.

[705] Cf. D' ANCONA E BOCCI, _Manuale della Lett. Ital._ (Firenze, 1904), Vol. I, p. 579.

[706] _Filocolo_ (_ed. cit._), I, pp. 4-5.

[707] Cf. _The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer_ (Clarendon Press, 1901), p. 401.

[708] _Op. cit._

[709] In _Dekameron von G. B. aus dem Italienischen übersetz_ (Leipzig, 1859), Vol. I, p. 22, note 2.

[710] _Op. cit._, p. 104.

[711] In _Nuova Antologia_ (1875), XXVIII, p. 562.

[712] _Op. cit._

[713] Cf. CRESCINI in _Kristischer Jahresbericht_, etc. (1898); HAUVETTE: _Une Confession de Boccacce--Il Corbaccio_ in _Bulletin Italien_ (1901), i, p. 7.

[714] See _Ameto_ (_ed. cit._), p. 227. I quote the passage: "Ed ancorachè Febo avesse tutti i dodici segnali mostrati del cielo sei volte, poichè quello era stato, pure riformò la non falsa fantasia nella offuscata memoria la vedute effigie...." Then below: "Ma sedici volte tonda, e altrettante bicorna ci si mostrò Febea...." That is six years and sixteen months, or in other words, seven years and four months.

[715] Witte's and Koerting's theory, based on 25 March as the beginning of spring, certainly receives some support from Boccaccio's comment on Dante, _Inferno_, i. 38-40:--

"E' l sol montava su con quelle stelle Ch' eran con lui quando l' amor divino Mosse da prima quelle cose belle...."

Boccaccio, after speaking of "Ariete, nel principio del quale affermano alcuni Nostro Signore aver creato e posto il corpo del sole," adds: "e perciò volendo l' autore dimostrare per questa descrizione il principio della Primavera, dice che il Sole saliva su dallo emisferio inferiore al superiore, con quelle stelle le quali erano con lui quando il divino amore lui e l' altre cose belle creò; ... volendo per questo darne ad intendere, quando da prima pose la mano alla presente opera essere circa al principio della Primavera; e così fu siccome appresso apparirà: egli nella presente fantasia entrò a dì 25 di Marzo."--_Comento_ (_ed. cit._), cap. i.

APPENDIX II

DOCUMENT OF THE SALE OF "CORBIGNANO" (CALLED NOW "CASA DI BOCCACCIO") BY BOCCACCINO IN 1336

In Dei Nomine Amen. Anno ejusdem incarnationis millesimo trecentesimo trigesimo sexto indictione quarta et die decimo octavo mensis Madij.

Pateat etc. etc. etc.

Item postea eodem die Bocchaccinus olim Chellini de Certaldo qui olim morabatur in populo Sancti Petri maioris et hodie moratur in populo Sancte Felicitatis de Florentia iure proprio et in perpetuum dedit vendidit tradidit et concessit Niccholo olim Vegne populi Sancti Simonis de Florentia ementi recipienti et stipulanti pro se ipso suisque heredibus habentibusque causam ab eodem pro ducentis quadraginta partibus pro indiviso ex trecentis quinquaginta partibus et Niccholao nepoti dicti Niccholi et filio olim Pauli olim Vegne dicti populi Sancti Simonis ementi stipulanti et recipienti pro se ipso suisque heredibus habentibusque causam ad eodem pro residuis centumdecem partibus pro indiviso ex trecentis quinquaginta partibus. Quoddam Podere cum domibus, curte, puteo, portibus, terra laborativa et vineata et olivis et arboribus, fossatis in medio, positis in parte in populo Sancti Martini la Melsola et in parte in populo Sancte Marie de Septignano Comitatus Florentie loco dicto Corbignano que esse dicuntur ad cordam et rectam mensuram Comunis Florentiæ stariorum trigintaocto et panorum duo vel circa et duo tamen capanne, quatuor orgiorum vel circa et quamdam bigonciam _da ricever vino_ et quemdam suem ibidem existentem; quibus omnibus tales dixit esse confines, a primo olim heredes Becit Bonaccursii, et hodie Cose olim Banchi Cose, a secundo olim dictorum heredum Becti et hodie dicti Cose, via dicti poderis et rerum venditarum in medio, a tertio olim Chiarozzi de Lamone et hodie heredum Vantis Rimbaldesis, via dictorum poderis et rerum venditarum in medio in partem, et olim Omodeii Spadari et hodie Andree Aghinecti in partem, a quarto olim dicti Homodey et hodie dicti Andree in partem et Pieri Boni in partem; infra predictos confines vel alios si qui forent pluries vel veriores, accessibus, aggressibus, ingressibus et egressibus suis et cuiuslibet vel alterius earum usque in viam publican et cum omni iure, actione, possessione, tenuta usu, usufructu seu requisitione eidem Boccaccino pro dictis rebus venditis vel earum aliqua aut ipsis rebus venditis vel earum alicui modo aliquo pertinenti vel spectanti; et cum omnibus et singulis que super se, infra, seu inter se habent dicte res vendite vel earum aliqua ad habendum, tenendum, possidendum, fruendum, usufructandum, et quidquid eisdem Nicchole Vegne pro partibus supradictis et Niccholao Pauli pro partibus supradictis pro inde deiceps placuerit perpetuo faciendum. Que quidem podere et res vendite et earum quamlibet predictus Boccaccinus pro eisdem Niccholo Vegne pro partibus supradictis et Niccholao Pauli pro partibus supradictis constituit possidere donec exinde dicti Niccholas Vegne pro partibus supradictis et Niccholaus Pauli pro partibus supradictis vel aliquis eorum pro se et alio eorumdem vel aliis pro eis corporalem possessionem sumere adeptas vel adeptis. Que et quas intrandi et exinde corporalem possessionem adipisci et retinendi deinceps dictus Boccaccinus venditor eisdem emptoribus et eorum cuilibet pro partibus supradictis quandocumque, quocumque, quotiescumque et qualitercumque voluerint, vel eorum aliquis licentiam concessit omnimodam atque dedit. Insuper dictus Boccaccinus venditor fecit et constituit suum procuratorem Bencivennem Mactheii dicti populi Sancti Simonis ibidem presentem et recipientem specialiter ad ponendum et immittendum pro eo et eius nomine dictos Niccholam Vegne pro partibus supradictis et Niccholaum Pauli pro partibus supradictis, vel alium recipientem pro eis et eorum quolibet in tenutam et corporalem possessionem dictorum poderis et rerum venditarum, et cuiuslibet earum et earum cuiuslibet, earum tenutam et corporalem possessionem tradendi cum omni iure eidem Bocchaccino in dictis rebus venditis vel earum aliqua pertinentia. Et generaliter ad omnia facienda que ipse constituens posset facere si adesset. Insuper etiam dictus Bocchaccinus ex caussa vendictionis predicte dedit, cessit, transtulit et exinde eisdem Niccholò Vegne et Niccholao Pauli et cuilibet eorum pro partibus supradictis omnia et singula iura et actiones reales et personales, utiles et directas mixtas tacitas et expressas preter civiles et conventionales omnesque alias eidem Bocchaccino competentes et spectantes, et que et quas ipse Bocchaccinus habet eidemque competunt contra et adversus quemlibet et quoslibet et quemcumque et quoscum auctores suos eidemque Bocchaccino pro dictis seu occasione dictorum poderis et rerum quomodolibet obligavit faciens et costituens predictus Bocchaccinus eosdem Niccholam Vegne et Niccholaum Pauli ibidem presentes, procuratores in rem suam eosdemque ponens in locum suum in iuribus et nominibus supradictis quo ad possint dicti Niccholas Vegne et Niccholaus et quilibet eorum pro partibus supradictis, pro dictis, et contra predictis agere etc. Et promisit et convenit dictus Bocchaccinus venditor eidem Nicchole Vegne et Niccholao Pauli et cuilibet eorum stipulanti et recipienti ut supra pro partibus supradictis, pacifice et quiete permittere et permicti facere dictos emptores et eorum quemlibet pro partibus supradictis eorumque et cuiuslibet eorum heredibus, habentibusque caussam ab eisdem ipsum podere et res vendite et earum quamlibet earumque et cuiuslibet earum obventionum habere etc. Et nullam litem questionem seu brigam eisdem emptoribus vel eorum alicui eorumque vel alicuius eorum heredum habentibusque caussam ab eisdem in dictis rebus venditis vel earum aliqua vel earum seu alicuius earum parte seu partiolam vel in earum seu alicuius earum obventionis inferre facere vel movere seu inferenti, facienti, vel moventi consentire. Set omnes et singulas lites et questiones eisdem emptoribus vel eorum alicui eorumque vel alicuius eorum heredum vel habentibusque caussam ab eisdem in dictis rebus venditis vel earum aliqua vel in earum seu alicuius earum parte seu particola, vel in earum seu alicuius earum obventionis per libelli oblationem simplicem requisitionem, tenutam, notitiam vel usuras, vel tenute dationem, pronumptiationem, acquisitionem, vel immissionem vel partim de disgombrando, vel alio quocumque modo motas vel movendas in se suscipere a die qua eidem Bocchaccino vel eius heredibus delatum fuerit personaliter vel ad domum ad tres dies tunc proxime secutoros. Ita quod a dictis emptoribus vel eorum quolibet eorumque et cuiuslibet eorum heredum habentibusque causam ab eisdem in totum tollantur et ad causam ire etc. Et ipsas res venditas et earum quamlibet earumque et cuiuscumque earum obventionum eisdem emptoribus stipulantibus et recipientibus ut supra defendere, auctorizare, et disbrigare, et ab omni homine loco et universitate, et ab omni obventione, conventione preterea atque pignoris, et ab omni debito, negotio et contumacia, et ab omni tenuta, notitia, et usuris et tenute datione, pronumptiatione, acquisitione vel immissione et de iure et de facto in omnibus causis videlicet ab omni libra, factione, prestantia, impositione, gabella quadam, banno inquisitione heretice pravitatis eteius officio facto vel fiendo et ab omne heresis ammonitione et ab officialibus Universitatis Mercatorum et Mercantie Comunis Florentie, et ab omnibus et singulis Sindacis et officialibus deputatis vel deputandis per Commune Florentinum super negociis alicuius vel aliquorum mercatoris vel mercatorum nunc vel in futurum pronumptiatione cessantium et fugitivorum cum pecunia et rebus debitoris et eorum creditorum, et a Iudice et Officio Bonorum Rebellium, exbannitorum et condepmnatorum, et cessantium ac libris et factionibus Communis Florentie et ab omni et quolibet officio dicti Communis Florentie presentibus et futuris nec non a Comuni Florentino supradicto et eisdem emptoribus cuilibet videlicet eorum ut supra stipulanti et recipienti ipsarum rerum venditadum et cuiuslibet earum vacuam possessionem tradere et ipsos ut supra stipulantes et recipientes in earum et cuiuslibet earum possessionum facere et defendere penitus et in earum et cuiuslibet earum possessu vero domino indepmne servare tueri et defensare. Remissis eisdem emptoribus ut supra stipulantibus et recipientibus ex pacto etiam appellandi necessitate si super evictione pronumptiatione contigerit contra eos vel eorum aliquem vel eorum vel alicuius eorum heredum vel habentibusque caussam ab eisdem. Et acto inter eos expresse quod non possit dici, allegari vel exponi eisdem emptoribus vel eorum alicui vel eorum vel alicuius eorum heredum habentibusque caussam ab eisdem vel eorum aliquo pro eisdem vel eorum alicui factum sit vel fuerit vel facta esset seu foret vel fieret iniuria vel ininstitia. Si ipse res vendite vel earum aliqua vel earum seu alicuius earum obventionis evinceretur ab eis vel eorum aliquo vel quod ipsi vel eorum aliquis in curia seu ad curiam non comparuerint vel non comparuerit, vel quod libellium seu caussam in sè non susceperint vel non suceperit, vel quod litem non fuerint vel non fuerit contestatam, vel quod ipsarum rerum vel alicuius earum defensor non opposuerit vel non opposuerint, vel quod eorum vel alicuius eorum culpa vel negligentia fuerit evictus. Et quod ipsi vel eorum aliquis non teneantur seu teneatur in curia seo ad curiam comparere, esse vel stare, vel libellum seu causam in se suscipere vel litem contestari vel defensari dictarum rerum vel alicuius earum aliqualiter se offereret. Et si, quod absit, evenerit dictas res venditas in totum vel in partem dictis emptoribus vel eorum alicui eorumque vel alicuius eorum heredum vel habentibusque caussam ab eisdem vel eorum aliquo quoquo modo evinci vel super evictione etiam contra eos vel eorum aliquem quoquo modo ferri sententiam proinde et contra dictum Bocchaccinum, eisdem Nicchole Vegne et Niccholao Pauli et cuilibet eorum stipulanti et recipienti ut supra et pro partibus supradictis infrascriptum pretium cum omnibus et singulis dapmnis expensis et interesse propterea secutis vel factis dare, solvere, reddere et restituere a die videlicet evictionis quoquo modo secute vel sententie super evictione quoquo modo late ad tres dies tunc proxime secuturos Florentie, Prati, Pistorii, Luce, Senis, Pisis, Aretii, Perusii et alibi ubicumque locorum et terrarum dictus Bocchaccinus inventus vel conventus fuerit. Et promisit et convenit dictus Bocchaccinus venditor eisdem emptoribus vel eorum cuilibet stipulantibus et recipientibus ut supra, et pro partibus supradittis predictam vendictionem, traditionem, concessionem, promissionem et omnia et singula supracitata et eorum quodlibet firma habere et tenere et haberi et teneri facere et se in omnibus contra predicta dedit etc. Si vero contra predicta vel predictorum aliquid idem Bocchaccinus venditor dederit vel fecerit aut dabit vel faciet in futurum aut datum vel factum quomodolibet apparuerit in aliquo capitulo in loco seu publico presenti contractu supra vel etiam imposito aut si ut promissum est et superius expressum factum non erit, promisit et convenit dictus Bocchaccinus eisdem Niccholo Vegne et Niccholao Pauli et cuilibet eorum stipulanti et recipienti ut supra, dare et solvere nomine pene et pena duplum infrascripti pretii et insuper florenos aurei quadringentos bonos et puros solepni stipulatione promisit cum refectione dapnorum etc. Que quidem pena totiens committatur et peti et exigi possit cum effectu quotiens contra predicta vel predictorum aliquid datum aut factum fuerit seu ventum vel predictorum aliquid non servatum.

Et pena soluta vel non, exacta vel non, una vice vel pluribus predicta omnia et singula firma perdurent; pro quibus omnibus et singulis observandis obtulit et constituit precario etc. Pro qua vero venditione, traditione et cessione et contractu et omnibus et singulis supradictis fuit in veritate confessus et contentus dictus Bocchaccinus venditor et non spe alicuius future numerationis habuisse et recepisse sibique datum solutum et numeratum fuisse et in presentia mei Notarii et infrascriptorum se habuit et recepit in quodam cono sigillato prout ipse Bocchaccinus confessus fuit tantam esse quantitatem nomine pretii et pretio a dicto Niccholo Vegne florenos aurei Ducentos quadraginta bonos et puros. Et a dicto Niccholao Pauli florenos dare centumdecem bonos et puros de quibus se dictus Bocchaccinus bene pagatum tacitum et contentum vocavit et dixit. Et quod plus valerent dicte res vendite pretio supradicto, dictus Bocchaccinus eisdem Niccholo Vegne et Niccholao Pauli et cuilibet eorum stipulanti et recipienti ut supra et partibus supradictis inter vivos et irrevocabiliter nulla de cetero ingratitudinis caussa obstante donavit. Insuper in agendo et contrahendo et exercendo predicto casu predictus Bocchaccinus per solepmnem stipulationem et pactum promisit et convenit eisdem Niccholo Vegne et Niccholao Pauli et cuilibet eorum stipulanti et recipienti ut supra se facturum et curaturum ita et taliter omni exceptione remota quod hinc ad octo dies proxime venturos seu infra ipsum tempus et terminum Biagius olim Pizzini dicti populi Sancte Felicitatis vel alius eque bonus et hinc ad unum mensem proxime venturum seu infra ipsum tempus et terminum Vanni eius frater et filius olim dicti Chelini dicti populi vel alius eque bonus et quilibet eorum in solidum et in totum predictis venditioni, traditioni, concessioni proinde pretii soluti et confessati donationi, contractui, ed instrumento et omnibus et singulis supradictis actis, factis, gestis et promissis per dictum Bocchaccinum fideiubebunt et se principales constituent auctores et in omnibus et per omnia et quilibet eorum in solidum facient, promictent et se et eorum quemlibet in solidum obligaverunt ut ipse idem Bocchaccinus in presenti fecit promisit et se obligavit contractu. Que si non fecerit et fieri curaverit promisit et convenit dictus Bocchaccinus eisdem emptoribus et eorum cuilibet stipulanti et recipienti ut supra dare et solvere nomine pene et pro pena Florenos auri centum bonos et puros solepmni stipulatione promisit cum refectione dapmnorum etc. sub ypotecha et obventione etc. precario etc. et reservatione etc. Insuper dictus Bocchaccinus iuravit ad sancta Dei evangelia corporaliter tactis scripturis deo, et dictis emptoribus stipulantibus et recipientibus ut supra se non venire contra predicta vel predictorum aliquid seu contra ea vel eorum aliquid restitutionem aliquam in integrum impetrare seu petere occasione minoris pretii vel alia occasione quacumque. Set predicta omnia et singula totaliter et effectualitir observare et firma habere et tenere perpetuo promisit convenit etc. Actum Florentie in populo Sancte Felicitatis presentibus testibus Bene Manni populi Sancte Lucie de Ligliano plebatus Campoli Comitatus Florentie. Salimbene Benuccii dicti populi Sancte Felicitatis et Nerio Dati populi plebis Sancte Marie in Pineta comitatus predicti ad hec vocatis etc.

Item postea eodem die. Actum Florentie in domo habitationis dicti Bocchaccini sita in dicto populo Sancte Felicitatis presentibus tunc supradictis etc. Domina Margherita uxor dicti Bocchaccini et filia olim Jandonati de Martolis certificata ante omnia per me ipsum notarium de iure suo et omnibus et singulis infrascriptis cum consensu dicti Bocchaccini viri sui ibidem presentis, predictis venditionem, traditionem, concessionem, promissionem, oblationem pretii, solutionem et confessionem, donationi, contractui et instrumento et omnibus et singulis supradictis actis, factis, gestis, et promissis per dictum Bocchaccinum consensit et parabolam dedit, et omni iuri, ypothece, et cuilibet alii iuri eidem domine in dictis rebus venditis vel earum aliqua competentia seu spectantia occasione dotis et donationis suarum vel alia occasione quacumque. Renuntiavit eisdem Niccholo Vegne et Niccholao Pauli et cuilibet eorum stipulanti et recipienti ut supra et pro partibus supradictis. Et promisit et convenit dicta domina Margherita cum consensu dicti sui viri eisdem emptoribus et cuilibet eorum stipulanti et recipienti ut supra nihil in dictis rebus venditis vel earum aliqua in perpetuum petere vel dicere nec aliquam litem molestiam vel gravamen inferre facere vel movere aliqua occasione iure vel modo in causa vel extra, curia vel extra vel aliquo alio modo qui dici vel exigi possit, et se nihil contra predicta dedit etc. sub pena dupli pretii supradicti et insuper Florenorum aurei quadringentorum sollepmni stipulatione promisit et refectione dapmnorum etc. sub ypotheca et obligatione etc. precario etc. et recusavit etc.

Item postea anno, die, et indictione predictis die vigesima prima mensis Maii actum Florentie in domo in qua Consules Artis Medicorum Spetiariorum et Merciariorum Civitatis Florentie morantur ad iura reddenda sita in populo Sancte Cecilie presentibus tunc S. Spigliato Dini Notario populi Sancte Margherite et Sandro Fioris Spine populi Sancte Marie in Campo de Florentia ad hec vocatis precibus et mandatis dicti Bocchaccini et pro eodem Bocchaccino Biagius olim Pizzini populi Sancte Felicitatis et Vanni olim Chelini de Certaldo dicti popuii et quilibet eorum in solidum et in totum predictis venditioni, traditioni, concessioni, promissioni, pretii solutioni, et confessioni, donationi, contractui et instrumento, et omnibus et singulis supradictis actis, factis, gestis, et promissis per dictum Bocchaccinum fideiusserunt et se et eorum quemlibet in solidum ipsarum rerum venditarum et cuiuslibet earum principales auctores et defensores constituerunt principaliter ei quilibet eorum in solidum et in totum promiserunt et convenerunt mihi Salvi notario infrascripto tamquam persone pubblice stipulanti et recipienti vice et nomine dictorum Nicchole Vegne et Niccholaj Pauli et cuiuslibet eorum pro partibus supradictis eorumque et cuiuscumque eorum heredibus habentibusque caussam ab eisdem se facturum et curaturum ita et taliter omni exceptione remota quod dictus Bocchaccinus pacifice et quiete permictet et permicti faciet dictos emptores et eorum quemlibet pro partibus supradictis eorum et cuiuslibet eorum heredibus habentibusque caussam ab eisdem ipsas res venditas et earum quamlibet habere et lites et questiones in se suscipere et ipsas res venditas et earum quamlibet earumque et cuiuslibet earum obventionum defendet auctorizabit et disbrigabit, et predictam venditionem traditionem, concessionem, promissionem, et omnia et singula supradicta et eorum quodlibet firma habebit et tenebit et in omnibus et per omnia faciet, attendet et observabit ut promisit et superius continetur. Alioquin ipsi fideiussores et quilibet eorum in solidum et in totum promiserunt et convenerunt mihi Salvi Notario infrascripto tamquam persone pubblice stipulanti et recipienti ut supra pacifice et quiete permicti facere dictos emptores et eorum quemlibet pro partibus supradictis earumque et cuiuslibet eorum heredibus habentibusque caussam ab eisdem ipsas res venditas et earum quamlibet earumque et cuiuslibet earum obventionum habere et lites et questiones motas vel movendas in se suscipere, et ipsas res venditas et earum quamlibet earumque et cuiuslibet earum obventionum defendere auctorizzare et disbrigare et in omnibus et per omnia et quilibet eorum in solidum promiserunt et convenerunt et remiserunt et fecerunt mihi Notario stipulanti et recipienti ut supra ut ipse Bocchaccinus promisit convenit remisit et fecit ut supra continetur. Que si non fecerint et fieri curaverint promiserunt et convenerunt predicti fideiussores et quilibet eorum in solidum et in totum mihi iamdicto notario stipulanti et recipienti ut supra dare et solvere nomine pene et pro pena duplum pretii supradicti et insuper Florenos aurei quadringentos bonos et puros solepmni stipulatone promiserunt cum refectione dapmnorum etc. Que quidem pena totiens committatur et peti et exigi possit cum effectu quotquot contra predicta vel predictorum aliquid datum aut factum fuerit seu ventum vel predictorum aliquid non servatum, et pena soluta vel non, exacta vel non, una vice vel pluribus predicta omnia et singula firma perdurent sub ypoteca et obligatione etc. precario etc. eisdem etc. Insuper dicti Biagius et Vanni Fideiussores et quilibet eorum iuraverunt ad Sancta dei Evangelia corporaliter tactis scripturis se vel eorum aliquem non venturos contra predicta vel predictorum aliquid seu contra ea, vel eorum aliquid restitutionem aliquam in integrum impetrare seu petere occasione minoris pretii vel alia occasione quacumque, set predicta omnia et singula totaliter et effectualiter observare et firma habere et tenere perpetuo quibus domino et fideiussoribus precepi per guarentigiam etc.

_Estratto dalle imbreviature di ser Salvi Dini a 164 esistenti nel Pubblico Archivio dei Contratti._

APPENDIX III

FROM "LA VILLEGGIATURA DI MAIANO," A MS. BY RUBERTO GHERARDI; A COPY OF WHICH IS IN POSSESSION OF MRS. ROSS, OF POGGIO GHERARDO, NEAR SETTIGNANO, FLORENCE.

CAP IV OF MS.

_Messer Gio. di Boccaccio gode in proprietà la Villa che fu del Sig^r Berti a Corbignano ove pare che egli nascesse e cresciuto restasse invaghito della Vallata posta sotto il Convento de P. P^i MM. Osservanti della Doccia e poi si trasportasse ad abitare in Firenze e vi comprasse varie Case suo Padre. Si fa l' illustrazione del poema di M^o Gio. nel quale narrati gli amori e gli accidenti seguiti fra il fiume d' Affrico e Mensola e le fortune di Pruneo diloro figlio si trova la moderna e antica topografia dè detti luoghi e dell' origine dello Spedale di Bonifazio e del fine del Convento di S. M^a a Querceto e del giogo delle collinette luogo detto Monte._

Fra gli ammiratori del nostro Villaggio di Maiano e delle sue adiacenze fu il nostro celebre maestro della Toscana eloquenza Messer Giovanni di Boccaccio di Chellino da Certaldo, il quale fino dalla prima età e dipoi nel fiore della gioventù si trattenne molto tempo nella piccola villetta unita al podere, che possedeva suo padre pochi passi sotto il Sobborgo di Corbignano, che per la misura del suo lo goduto con essa, per il fossato che sbocca in Mensola, che lo divide, per i confini che lo specificano, e per le due Cure, una di S. Martino a Mensola, e l' altra di S. Maria a Settignano che vi esercitano la giurisdizione e vengono a individuarla altra non può essere che quella di Corbignano dè Signori Berti posseduta di presente con titolo Livellare dal Signor Ottavio Ruggeri, come il tutto si può riscontrare dal Contratto di vendite della medesima, fatta per rogito di Ser Salvi Dini esistente all' Archivio Fiorentino del dí 18 Maggio 1336, allorchè il nostro Boccaccio si ritovava in età d' anni 23. Questa fiorita età del medesimo e le dolci compagnie di quella villeggiatura, chi sà che non gli infiammassero il cuore e nella sua commedia delle Ninfe Fiorentine, lo portassero ad encomiare e comparire nel Prologo sotto nome d' Ameto e principalmente a fissare lo sguardo a quella parte "dilettevole di graziose Ville e di campi fruttiferi copiosa, ove sorge un infruttuoso monte Corito nominato, prima che Atlante vi salisse; nelle piaggie del quale fra gli strabocchevoli balzi surgea d' alberi, di querce, di cerri, e di abeti, un folto bosco e disteso fino alla sommità del monte. Dalla sua destra un chiaro fiumicello, mosso dalla ubertà dei monti vicini, fra le pietrose valli, discendeva gridando vesso il piano: dove giunte le sue acque con l' Arno mescolando il poco avuto nome perdea." Per il monte di Corito non vi ha dubbio che egli intenda il monte di Fiesole, poichè nel fine dell' istessa commedia trattando delle guerre tra i Fiesolani e i Fiorentini successe nell' anno 1125 allorchè furono distrutti i Fiesolani colla loro rocca e accomunate le famiglie e l' insegne di questi due popoli. Egli dice che la fortuna "dante nè principj i beni con mano troppo larga a quelli di Corito, gli rendè invidiosi e tra loro determini della Jurisdizione della loro Città, nata mortale questione, nuove battaglie cominciaron tra popoli," e poco dopo parlando di Firenze, e de' suoi abitatori dice "che levatosi l' aspro giogo dè Coritani già sovrastanti per le indebolite virtudi si rintuzzarono le loro forze, che appena il monte erano usati di scendere." Per il fiumicello, il quale a chi riguarda il monte di Fiesole comparisce alla destra si conosce che egli intese il fiume d' Affrico, che ha l' origine e discende per le balze descritte; et Ameto chiamò Sarno il fiume d' Arno, in cui Affrico si sperde poichè rappresentava tempi così remoti, giusta il parere dello Storico Malaspina, allorchè il detto fiume non aveva ancora mutato il suo nome Sarno con quello d' Arno. "Era di piacevoli seni ed ombra graziosa la selva ripiena d' animali veloci, fierissimi, e paurosi, e in più parti di se abbondanti fontane rigavano le fresche erbette. In questa selva sovente Ameto vagabondo giovane i Fauni, le Driadi abitatrici del luogo solea visitare. Et ella forse dalli vicini monti avuta antica origine quasi da carnalità costretto, di ciò avendo memoria con pietosi affetti gli onorava talvolta." Dice, che Ameto vagabondo giovane perchè forse dalli vicini monti avuta antica origine, quasi da umana simpatia costretto, e de ciò ricordandosi solea visitare ed onorare talvolta i Fauni e le Driadi abitatrici del luogo pieno di Ville, di fonti, di seni, e boschetti. E chi ne assicura, che il Boccaccio non fosse nato nella sua villa di Corbignano quivi poco distante? Infatti per quanto sia cognita l' età e in conseguenza la nascita del nostro M^o Giovanni di Boccaccio, nulladimeno però fino ad ora ne il Sig^r Manni, ne altro Scrittore della sua vita hanno potuto indagare dove ei nascesse, non essendo stato procreato qual frutto di legittimo matrimonio, ma bensi quale aborto di malnata passione, come si può riscontrare dalla dispensa addomandata per farsi cherico, riferita nella storia d' Avignone e dalla dilui legittimazione narrata dal Sig^r Della Rena. Io credo, che raccontandoci in figura d' Ameto il Boccaccio avere avuta forse l' origine nei colli vicini a Maiano, e che perciò spinto da natural simpatia andava spesso a visitare le Ninfe e le Driadi di quelle magioni, abbia voluto farci comprendere essere egli venuto alia luce nella sua piccola villetta unita al Podere posto parte nel popolo di S. Martino a Mensola, e parte di S. Maria a Settignano, e tramezzato dal fosso che forma con altri due fossi dipoi il fiume di Mensola presso il Borgo di Corbignano, distante circa a mezzo miglio dalle Ville di Maiano. Tuttociò si rende vie più credibile, quanto è naturale il persuadersi che il dilui genitore abbandonata la sua patria di Certaldo comprasse tosto quella villetta e podere di Corbignano, e che poi essendogli nato il nostro Messer Giovanni facesse acquisto circa al 1314 d' una Casa nella Città di Firenze presso quella porta, che conduceva alla sua Villetta, come si usava in quei tempi, e questa casa la scegliesse posta nel popolo di S. Pier Maggiore in via S. Maria e nel Gonfalone delle Chiavi come si scuopre dal libro delle Riformagioni segnato R. che tira dal 1313 al 1318 sotto di 10 Ottobre 1318 ove si ordina che detto Boccaccio sia levato dalla Libra delle gravezze di Certaldo, e resti aggravato in quella di Firenze, per essere egli tornato ad abitarvi nel Gonfalone delle Chiavi dai quattro anni già scorsi. Questa casa del Boccaccio non può essere altro, che quella posta nel detto popolo di S. Pier Maggiore nella detta Via S. Maria presso la cantonata che fa la detta strada con la via del Giardino di proprietà in oggi dei P. P^i Minori Conventuali, scoperta da me per mezzo dei confini d' altra casa che le sta al fianco venduta nè tre Luglio 1333 per rogito di Ser Salvi Dini e descritta come App^o "Una Casa posta nel popolo di S. Pier Maggiore, ed in Via S. Maria cui a primo detta Via, a secondo, la Chiesa di S. Reparata, a terzo di Ruggero di Scotto o degli Albizi, a quarto, a tempo d' altra vendita delle medesima, seguita nel 25. Aprile 1326 per rogito de Sig^r Bonacosa di Compagno etc. confinava Boccaccio da Certaldo e in oggi gli Eredi di Cino Bicchierai."

Osservandosi il contorno dei confini di questa Casa venduta si scuopre esser quella istessa che in' oggi è divenuta dell' Opera del Duomo che sta in mezzo all' altra, che ora, e fin di quel tempo è stata posseduta dall' Opera medesima che fa cantonata in via del Giardino, e dall' altra parte, vale a dire vesso mezzogiorno resta accanto alia Casa dei P. P^i di S. Croce di Firenze presentemente, e che in antico fu di proprietà del Boccaccio il quale bisogna che la vendesse poco dopo al 1326 poichè avendo egli emancipato Francesco, altro suo figlio, che si trovava vicino alia pubertà gli fece comprare nel 31. Agosto 1333 un altra casa in Firenze nel popolo di S. Felicità per rogito di Ser Salvi Dini, ove esso con i suoi figli abitò, e di cui parla il Signor Manni nella sua illustrazione, che confina a primo e secondo Via a terzo Domenico Barducci, a quarto Vanni di Cera e degli Eredi di Ghino Canigiani. Lo stesso Boccaccio fece poscia acquisto d' altra mezza Casa il di 13. Dicembre 1342 pei rogiti di Sig^{ri} Francesco di Ser Matteo, come si riscontra da un Libro di Gabella di detto tempo esistente nell' Archivio del Monte Comune di Firenze, la quale penso che sia quella posta nel popolo di S. Ambrogio donata dipoi alla Compagnia d' Orsanmichele, come dal registro della medesima principiato nel 1340 a N 133 si vede.

Dopo questa breve digressione torniamo a Fiesole coll' istesso Giovanni di Boccaccio, il quale non solo nella sua Genealogia degli Dei, ma ancora nel Ninfale riconosce Atlante per fondatore della medesima, ed insieme nel suo poema Toscano, primo, che si trovi alla luce in ottava rima, rappresenta gli amori di Affrico e Mensola piccoli fiumicelle che irrigano la nostra celebre Campagna e mette in vista i casi veri, o finti che siano, seguiti nel contorno di Maiano situato in mezzo a questi due fiumi. Racconta egli adunque che

Pria che Fiesole fosse edificata Di mura o di steccato o di fortezza

venne Diana Dea Cacciatrice in quelle vicinanze ed armata d' arco e di strali con gran corteggio di Driadi, e che era nel Mese di Maggio.

Quando la Dea Diana a Fiesol venne, E con le Ninfe sue consiglio tenne Intorno ad una bella e chiara fonte Di fresca erbetta e di fiori intorniata. La quale ancor dimora a piè del monte Ceceri, che in quella parte che il Sol guata Quand' è nel mezzogiorno a fronte a fronte, E fonte è oggi quella nominata Intorno a quella Diana ancor si volse Essere, e molte Ninfe vi raccolse....

Incominciò la Dea la sua concione alle Ninfe compagne, esortandole al disprezzo e alla fuga degli uomini ed alla vita celibe, solitaria ed occupata nella caccia di Belve. Africo, che languiva d' amore per Mensola una delle Ninfe fra quelle più vistosa dell' altre, udendo nascoso tali consigli l' andava ricercando col cupido sguardo, e non avendola potuta scoprire ne ivi ne altrove già lasso e sbigottito:

E verso Fiesol volto piaggia a piaggia Giudato dall' amor ne già pensoso, Cercando la sua amante aspra e selvaggia, Che faceva lui star maninconioso; Ma pria che mezzo miglio passat' haggia Ad un luogo perviene assai nascoso, Dove una valle due monti divide Quivi udi cantar Ninfe, e poi le vide. Perchè senza iscoprisse s' appressava Tanto che vidde donde uscia quel canto Vidde tre Ninfe, che ognuna cantava L' una era ritta e l' altre due in un canto A un acquitrin, che il fiossato menava Sedieno elle e lor gambe vidde al quanto, Chi si lavavano i pie bianchi e belli Con lor cantavan li dimolti uccelli.

Incontratosi Africo presso l' acquitrino, che per la valle scorrea interrogò le Ninfe per sapere qualche nuova di Mensola diloro compagna, ma veggendosi elleno scoperte dal pastorello piene di vergogna fuggirono senza darli risposta, esso le segue, nè le puote raggiungere e finalmente disperato.

Verso la casa sua prese la via.

Giunge tardi alla magione e inganna Calimena e Girafone suoi genitori sopra il motivo del suo ritardo; il tenero padre finse non avvedersi della passione del figlio ed esortollo a fuggire l' amore delle Ninfe come pericoloso, adducendoli in esemplo la vendetta presa da Diana con Mugnone suo genitore trasmutato in fiume per un tale delitto. Non curò il giovane gli avvertimenti del vecchio, nè l' esempio del nonno, e non avendo non che sfogata neppure sopita la sua fiamma per mezzo dei disprezzi istessi e delle repulse di Mensola che lo fuggiva, ma prendendo augurio di poter sodisfare le pazze brame dal sacrifizio fatto a Venere, che gli comparve scoprendoli la maniera d' ingannare la sua Ninfa ritrosa risolve di tutto azzardare per sodisfazione di sua follia. Prende ancor esso le spoglie e le divise di Ninfa, e trovata Mensola con la comitiva delle altre ingannandole tutte et infingendosi verginella si mette con esse a tirar dardi e a saettar per giuoco. Delusa Mensola scorre i boschi ed i monti di Fiesole con chi le tende le più terribili insidie.

Elle eran già tanto giù per lo colle Gite, che eran vicine a quella valle Che due monti divide---- Non furon guari le Ninfe oltre andate Che trovaron due Ninfe tutte ignude Che in un pelago d' acque erano entrate Dove l' un monte con l' altro si chiude E giunte li s' ebber le gonne alzate E tutte quante entrar nell acque crude.

Ove ora risiedeva il pelagaccio sotto il Convento dei P. P^i della Doccia in questo bagno il giovanetto Africo in abito di Ninfa immersosi in compagnia di Mensola tradì la semplicità della verginella e la lasciò di se incinta. Fugge ella per la vergogna di tanto oltraggio e per l' inganno del garzoncello; smania e paventa per lo timore di Diana, talchè avría detto di lei l' Ariosto:

Di selva in selva timida s' en vola E di paura freme e di sospetto, E ad ogui sterpo, che passando tocca Esser le pare alla gran Diva in bocca. Erivoltandosi contro l' insidiatore affermato che Tra l' invita e natural furore A spiegar l' unghie a insanguinar le labbia Amor la intenerisce e la ritira Affrico a rimirare in mezzo all' ira.

Prevasse all' odio al furore e alla paura l' amore talmente che promesse Mensola al pastorello di ritornare in quel luogo

Affrico se ne va inverso del piano Mensola al Monte su pel colle tira, Molto pensosa col suo dardo in mano E del mal fatto forte ne sospira ... Cosi passò del gran mente la cima[716] E poi scendendo giu per quella costa Laddove il sol perquote quando prima Si leva e che a Oriente e contrapposta E secondo che il mio avviso stima Era la sua caverna in quella posta, Forse a un trar d' arco sopra il fiumicello Che a piè vi corre un grosso ruscello.

A qual precipizio non conduce un forsennato amore! Tornò più volte Africo all ingannevole luogo insidioso; ma si trovò più volte deluso ancor esso dalla sua Ninfa, che non vi comparve; sicchè vinto infine dalla disperazione di rivederla,

E pervenuto a piede del vallone E sopra all acque del fossato gito.

Disperato e pien di furore si trafisse col proprio dardo: dicendo

Io me ne vo all inferno angoscioso E tu, fiume, terrai il nome mio E manifesterai lo doloroso Caso, ch' è occorso si crudele e rio A chiunque ti vedrà si sanguinoso Correre, o lasso, del mio sangue tinto Paleserai dove amor m' ha sospinto. L' infelice garzone cadde morto nell' acqua, e quella Dal sangue tinta si divenne rossa, Facea quel fiume siccome fa ancora Di se due parti alquanto giù più basso.

Presso alla maggior riviera, de cui era situata la casa di Girafone, sicchè l' onda che scorrea sanguinosa scuopri all' infelice padre la disgrazia del figlio; Mensola poi per lo peccato, e lo timor di Diana e delle Ninfe sue compagne nascosa e palpitante aspettava l' ora del parto; partori finalmente; ma in quel tempo appunto, che la Dea Cacciatrice essendo tornata a Fiesole e ne suoi contorni a rivedere le sue seguaci fra le quali non avendo ritrovata Mensola piena d' ira e sospetto la ricercava. Mensola occultò il piccolo figlio in una macchia fra i pruni (onde Pruneo fu chiamato) e si dette alia fuga; ma per il vagito del bambinello avendo scoperto Diana il di lei delitto; gridò

Tu non potrai fuggir le mie saette Se l' arco tiro o sciocca peccatrice Mensola già per questo non ristette Ma fugge quanto puote alia pendice, E giunta al fiume dentro vi si mette Per valicarlo, na Diana dice Certe parole e al fiume le manda E che ritenga Mensola comanda. La sventurata era già in mezzo all' acque Quand ella i piè venir meno sentia E quivi siccome a Diana piacque Mensola in acqua allor si convertia E poi sempre in quel fiume si giacque Il nome suo, che ancora tuttavia Per lei quel fiume Mensola è chiamato Or v' ho del suo principio raccontato.

Dopo seguito l' atroce caso e l' orribile metamorfosi prese Diana quel piccolo pargoletto, che per essere stato trovato tra i pruni, Pruneo fu chiamato, e lo consegnò a Sinidechia scaltra vecchia ed informata del tutto abitante in quei contorni, che dopo lo condusse a Girafone e Calimena suoi avi, ai quale l' affido con gran premura, essi l' educarono con sommo amore e attenzione.

Passo allora Atlante in questa parte D' Europa con infinita gente Atlante fece allora fare Una Città, che Fiesole chiamossi.... E tutti gli abitanti del paese Atlante gli volle alla Cittade Girafon quando questo fatto intese Tosto n' andò con bona volontade E menò seco il piacente, il cortese Pruneo, etc. etc.

Piacque fuor di misura Girafone ad Atlante perlochè lo dichiarò suo consigliere ed al giovane Pruneo dilui nipote:

Atlante gli pose tanto amore, Veggendo ch' era si savio e valente, Che Siniscalco il fe con grande onore Sopra la terra, e sopra la sua gente, E di tutto il paese guidatore, Ed ei guidava si piacevolmente Che da tutti era amato e benveduto Tanto dava ad ogn' uno il suo dovuto E gia più di venticinqu' anni avea Quando Atlante gli diè per mogliera Una fanciulla, la qual Tironea Era il suo nome e figliola si era D' un gran Baron, che con seco tenea E dielli tutta ancor quella riviera Che è in mezzo tra Mensola e Mugnone, E questa fù la dote del garzone. Pruneo fe far dalla Chiesa a Maiano Un po di sopra un nobil casamento D' onde ei vedeva tutto quanto il piano, Et afforzollo d' ogui guernimento, E quel paese ch' era molto strano Tosto dimentico siccome sento, etc. etc.

Morirono dopo gli avi suoi Girafone e Calimena e Pruneo avendo avuti da sua moglie Tironea dieci figlinoli tutti gli accoppiò con vantaggioso Imeneo sicchè:

In molte genti questa schiatta crebbe E sempre furon a Fiesol cittadini Grandi e possenti sopra i lor vicini. Morto Pruneo con grandissimo duolo Di tutta la Città fu seppellito, Così rimase a ciascun suo figliuolo Tutto il paese libero e spedito, Che Atlante donato avea a lui solo, E bene l' ebbon tra lor dipartito E sempre poi le schiatte di costoro Signoreggiaron questo territoro.

Narrati gli amore, i casi, e le seguite trasformazione di Africo e Mensola, rappresentate nel Ninfale di Giovanni Boccaccio senza ricercare quello che abbia voluto indicare nel favoloso racconto noterò i luoghi descritti dal medesimo. Osservo che Diana colle sue seguaci conduce a tenere assemblea.

Intorno ad una bella e chiara fonte Di fresche erbette e di fiori intorniata, La quale ancor dimora appiè del monte Ceceri in quella parte, che il sol guata Quand' è nel mezzodi a fronte a fronte, E Fonte è oggi quella nominata, etc. etc.

Questa fonte è l' istessa chiamata modernamente Fonte all' erta, a piè e nel base di Monte Ceceri situata a Mezzogiorno e sotto la Villa dei Signori Pitti Gaddi, della qual fontana ora non se ne veggono che le scomposte mura, le rovine ed i vestigi nella pubblica strada al principio della costa; ma vivono persone, che mi hanno assicurato che circa all' anno 1710 ne fu deviata l' acqua procedente dal vivaio un po superiore alla medesima e dall' unione di quelle, che vi concorrevano d' altrove perchè infrigidiva i terreni sottoposti e noceva alle piante e alle raccolte dell istesso podere. Al tempo del nostro Boccaccio (chiamerò da qui avanti con tal nome benchè di suo padre il nostro M^o Giovanni) io trovo che questo podere con case, vivaio etc., esistente alla fine del piano di S. Gervasio fu venduto nel 5 Giugno 1370 per rogito di Sig^{re} Ristoro di Jacopo da Figline, da Giovanni di Agostino degli Asini a Messer Bonifazio Lupo Marchese di Soragona e Cavaliere Parmigiano, che in quel tempo fu ascritto alla fiorentina cittadinanza, il quale spinto da lodevole pietà e grata riconoscenza alla repubblica fiorentina ottenne dalla medesima fino sotto li 23 Dicembre 1377 come attesta l' Ammirato nel Libro decimo terzo, di poter fondare lo Spedale in Via S. Gallo di detta città chiamato appunto di Bonifazio dal nome de sì pio e grato benefattore; fu posto questo Spedale nel luogo comprato sino ne 2 Febbraio 1309 da Messer Giovanni del già Migliore dè Chiaramontesi di Firenze per edificare il Monastero e Convento di S. Maria a Querceto per rogito di Ser Benedetto di Maestro Martino come si vede dall' Archivio dell' Arcivescovado e dagli spogli del Migliore, le quale Monache vi tornarono e vi si trovavano ancora nell' anno della peste del 1348 come per i rogiti di Ser Lando di Ubaldino da Pesciola del 4 Maggio 1336, e di Ser Benvenuto di Cerreto Maggio del dì 24 Marzo 1346, e d' altri si riscontra, e dopo molto tempo Eugenio Quarto uni ed assegnò al predetto Spedale il detto monastero e Monache di Querceto quivi contigue come dallo Zibaldone di No. 90 Del Migliore a 127 e 202 nella Magliabechiana si può vedere. Ecco scoperto il luogo ove declamava Diana (ma senza frutto) se riguardo a Mensola che all' altre Ninfe di quei contorni, poiche io osservo, che tutti quei villeggianti s' imparentavano e sposavano le zittelle dei villeggianti vicini. Partito Africo dalla fonte predetta salendo verso Fiesole, traversando la costa formata da più effetti della Casa Albizi, Covoni, Asini ed altre posti tanto nel popolo della Canonica, che della Badia di Fiesole e di S. Gervasio dei quali per non tediare non produrrò i Contratti ritrovati, quali Poderi tutti si denominano Monte negli antichi Istrumenti per essere situati sul poggio ove risiede in oggi il Convento di S. Domenico. E dopo tal viaggio giunse il pastorello alla Valle formata da questo giogo dè Colli di Fiesole; e da quelle degli altri di Maiano sotto la Doccia, chiamata nel Decamerone la Valle delle Donne di cui in seguito ragioneremo. Le acque delle superiori piagge che scorrevano, formavano gli acquitrini, quali si univano e davano l' origine al fiume d' Affrico ed in uno di questi acquitrini vidde il pastorelle le Ninfe lavarsi le piante, e che s' involarono da lui tostochè lo scopersero; onde afflitto e turbato scese verso la pianura di detta Valle e tornò alla sua magione. Venere lo speranza, egli si traveste da Ninfa cerca di Mensola, la ritrova, gira con essa verso le cime del Monte di Fiesole saettando per giuoco, ritorna al pelago sotto la Doccia nella valle vede le Ninfe che si bagnavano s' immerge ancor esso con la compagna nelle acque, e quivi principiano le comuni sciagure. Questo luogo pare, che sia devenuto cosi famoso nell' antichità e nei tempi del nostro Boccaccio da potere aver comunicata la denominazione agli stessi fondi di terreni che lo compongono, o perchè fosse ivi seguito qualche accidente che avesse dato luogo al favoloso poema, o perchè la favola istessa sia stata forse adattata al luogo medesimo. Infatti io ritrovo nei rogiti di Ser Roberto di Talento da Fiesole del 27 Novembre 1347 e del 28 Maggio 1352 descritto un podere di Tuccio del già Diedi de Falconieri posto verso Ponente e perciò nel popolo della Canonica di Fiesole con Case etc. chiamato il Bagno allo Scopetino, ed in quelli di Ser Giovanni Bencini da Montaione si vede una reciproca donazione fra Andreola, figlia del già Carlo dei Pazzi, e Vedova di Piero di Cione Ridolfi e Carlo Pazzi suo fratello, di più luoghi, fra i quali si trova un podere nel popolo di S. Martino a Maiano luogo detto la Valle al Bagno, fino sotto di II Luglio 1343. Di più nel libro F Primo a ć 76 della Gabella dei Contratti si osserva nè dì II Dicembre 1349 per rogito di Ser Francesco di Bruno di Vico Dal Pozzo, che M^a Dolce figlia di Mannino e Vedova di Bindo Buonaveri (famiglia molto illustre di Firenze) vendè a M^a Simona Pinzochera di S. Maria Novella, e Sorella di Cenni di Giotto, ma non del pittore, per fiorini 500 d' oro un podere etc., posto nel popolo di S. Martino a Maiano luogo detto la Valle del Bagno in Affrico. Nel Decamerone veggo descritta dal Boccaccio questa medesima Valle, e che la medesima adunanza d' acque in essa valle, che due "di quelle montagnette divideva, e cadeva giù per balzi di pietra viva, e cadendo facea un rumore a udire assai dilettevole, e sprizzando parea da lungi ariento vivo, che d' alcuna cosa premutta minutamente sprizzasse; e come giù al piccol pian pervenire, così quivi in un bel canaletto raccolta infino al mezzo del piano velocissima discorreva ed ivi faceva un piccol laghetto quale talvolta per modo di vivaio fanno ne lor giardini i Cittadini che di ciò hanno destro." Il podere con casa etc., etc., posto nel popolo di S. Martino a Maiano che gode di presente la Signora Berzichelli, Vedova del già Signor Barone Agostino Del Nero, nella Valle d' Ameto e delle Donne, e presso addove s' unisce il poggio della Doccia con quel di Maiano, si chiama il Vivaio, e più Vivaietti e Acquitrini si trovano in quella valle sovrabbondante di acque, le quali dettero varie denominazioni ad esse allusive di luoghi circonvicini, e credo, che il detto luogo sia il medesimo, che donò una volta M^a Andreola de' Pazzi al suo fratello, e dipoi pervenuto in M^a Dolce, Vedova del Bonavieri, lo vendè alla figlia di Giotto suddetto, situato d' appresso all' altro del Falconieri. Quest' effetto acquistarono i Signori Del Nero del Sig^r Jacopo del Feo nel 1568 in cui era passato nel 1559 dal Sig^r Niccolo di Filippo Valori, e questo lo avea descritto in suo conto alla Decima del 1498 nel Gonfalone delle Chiavi a 176. Questo Jacopo di Feo di Savona ebbe per moglie Caterina Sforza de' Duchi di Milano naturale, Vedova Girolamo Riario Signore di Forlì e poi rimaritata a Gio. di Pier Francesco de' Medici e Nonna percio di Cosimo I Gran Duca di Toscana. Mensola intimorita varca il poggio in cui risiede Maiano e si nasconde nel suo refugio sotto le cave in faccia a Levante ed al piano di Novoli presso del Fiume, Affrico all' incontro scende verso la pianura, e dopo esser tornato e ritornato poi vesso del pelago disperato per non avere rintracciata la Ninfa si trafigge col proprio dardo vicino alla magione di Girafone suo padre posta sul ramo maggiore, uno chiamato Affrico e l' altro Affricuzzo, che poi s' uniscono insieme formandone il suo fiume presso allo sbocco della valle predetta. Altro per ora non resta da notarsi sopra la Topografia del racconto, poichè nato il figlio Pruneo e trasmutata da Diana in pena del delitto nel fiume che porta il suo nome, Mensola sua Madre, e dalla disperazione il padre in quello d' Affrico, fu chiamato dipoi questo pargoletto Pruneo dall' essere stato scoperto fra i pruni dalla Dea. Nel corso degli anni comparve a Fiesole Atlante ed edificò quella Città, ed a questo fanciullo, già fatto adulto, diede per moglie Tironea, e per dote tutto il paese collocato fra il Fiume Mensola e quel di Mugnone.

FOOTNOTE:

[716] cioè di Monte Ceceri....

APPENDIX IV

THE ACROSTIC OF THE _AMOROSA VISIONE_ DEDICATING THE POEM TO FIAMMETTA

This acrostic consists of three _ballate_ composed by reading the first letters of the first verses of each _terzina_ throughout the poem.

I

Mirabil cosa forse la presente Vision vi parrà, donna gentile, A riguardar, sì per lo novo stile Sì per la fantasia ch' è nella mente. Rimirandovi un dì subitamente Bella, leggiadra et in abit' umile, In volontà mi venne con sottile Rima trattar parlando brievamente. Adunque a voi, cui tengo Donna mia, Et chiu sempre disio di servire, La raccomando, madama Maria: E prieghovi, se fosse nel mio dire Difecto alcun, per vostra cortesia Correggiate amendando il mio fallire. Cara Fiamma, per cui 'l core ó caldo, Que' che vi manda questa Visione Giovanni è di Boccaccio da Certaldo.

II

Il dolce immaginar che 'l mio chor face Della vostra biltà, donna pietosa, Recam' una soavità sì dilectosa, Che mette lui con mecho in dolce pace. Poi quando altro pensiero questo disface Piangemi dentro l' anim' angosciosa, Cercando come trovar possa posa, Et sola voi disiar le piace. Et però volend' i' perseverare Pur nello 'nmaginar vostra biltate, Cerco con rime nuove farvi onore. Questo mi mosse, Donna, a compilare La Visione in parole rimate, Che io vi mando qui per mio amore. Fatele onor secondo il su' valore Avendo a tempo poi di me pietate.

III

O chi che voi vi siate, o gratiosi Animi virtuosi, In cui amor come 'n beato loco Celato tene il suo giocondo focho; I' vi priego c' un poco Prestiate lo 'ntelletto agli amorosi Versi, li quali sospinto conposi, Forse da disiosi Voler troppo 'nfiammato: o se 'l mio fioco Cantar s' imvischa nel proferer broco, O troppo è chiaro o roco, Amendatel' acciò che ben riposi. Se in sè fructo, o forse alcun dilecto Porgesse a vo' lector, ringratiate Colei, la cui biltate Questo mi mosse affar come subgiecto. E perchè voi costei me' conosciate, Ella somigli' amor nel su' aspecto, Tanto c' alcun difecto Non v' à a chi già 'l vide altre fiate; E l' un dell' altro si gode di loro Ond' io lieto dimoro. Rendete allei il meritato alloro, E più non dic' omai, Perchè decto mi par aver assai.

APPENDIX V

THE WILL OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO

In Dei nomine amen. Anno Domini millesimo trecentesimo septuagesimo quarto, indictione duodecima, secundum cursum et consuetudinem Florentiæ. Tempore domini Gregorii, divina providentia Pape XI, die vigesimo octavo mensis augusti. Actum Florentiæ in ecclesia et populo Sanctæ Felicitatis, presentibus testibus Pazino Alessandri De Bardis populi Sanctæ Mariæ supra Arnum de Florentia, Angelo Niccoli dicti populi Sanctæ Felicitatis, Andrea Biancardi, Orlandino Jacobi, Burando Ugolini, Francisco Tomasi, omnibus dicti populi Sanctæ Felicitatis, et Brunellacio Bianchini de Certaldo, comitatus Florentiæ, ad infrascripta vocatis et rogatis et ab infrascripto testatore suo proprio hore [_sic_] habitis et rogatis et aliis suprascriptis.

Cum nil sit certius morte et incertius ora mortis et actestante veritate, vigilare sit opus, cum diem ignoremus et horam qua qua [_sic_] homo sit moriturus idcircho venerabilis et egregius vir dominus Johannes olim Boccacii de Certaldo Vallis Elsæ, comitatus Florentiæ, sanus mente, corpore et intellectu, suorum bonorum dispositionis per presens nuncupativum testamentum sine scriptis in hunc modum facere procuravit.

In primis quidem recomendavit animam suam Deo omnipotenti et beatæ Mariæ semper Virgini gloriosæ et sepulturam sui corporis si eum mori contigerit in civitate Florentiæ elegit in ecclesia Fratrum Sancti Spiritus Ordinis heremitarum Sancti Augustini de Florentia, in eo loco ubi videbitur magistro Martino in sacra theologia, venerabili Magistro dicti Ordinis. Si autem mori contigerit in castro Certaldi, judicavit corpus suum sepelliri in ecclesia Sancti Jacobi de Certaldo, in ea parte ubi videbitur actinentibus et vicinis suis.

Item reliquit ecclesiæ Sanctæ Reparate de Florentia soldos decem florenorum parvorum.

Item reliquit constructioni murorum civitatis Florentiæ soldos decem florenorum parvorum.

Item reliquit societati Sanctæ Mariæ de Certaldo libras quinque florenorum parvorum.

Item reliquit constructioni seu operi ecclesiæ Sancti Jacobi de Certaldo pro remedio animæ suæ et suorum parentum libras decem florenorum parvorum.

Item reliquit Brunæ filiæ Cianchi de Montemagno, quæ antiquitus moram traxit cum eo, unum lectum in quo ipsa erat consueta dormire in castro Certaldi, cum letteria, cultrice, pimacio [_sic_] una coltre alba parva at usum dicti letti cum uno pario litiaminum, cum pancha que consueta est stare iuxta lettum predictum.

Item unum dischum parvum pro comedendo de nuce, duas tabolettas [_sic_] usitatis longitudinis trium brachiorum pro qualibet.

Item duas tovagliuolas.

Item unum botticellum capacitatis trium salmarum vini.

Item unam robam Panni Monachini foderatam zendadi porperini, unam gonellam, guarnachiam et caputeum et sibi Brunæ etiam de omni eo, quod a dicto testatore restat habere occasione sui salarj.

Item voluit, disposuit et mandavit et reliquit omnibus et singulis hominibus et personis qui reperirentur descripti in quodam suo libro signato _A_ debentibus aliquid recipere vel habere a dicto testatore, et omnibus aliis, qui legiptime ostenderent debere habere, non obstante quod non reperirentur descripti in dicto libro, quod eis et cuilibet ipsorum satisfiat per infrascripto eius executores de massaritiis, rebus et bonis dicti testatoris, exceptis libris dicti testatoris, et maxime de una domo posita in Certaldo, cui a primo via vocata Borgho, a secundo Fornaino Andree domini Benghi de Rubeis, a tertio la _Via Nuova_, a quarto dicti testatoris vendenda per infrascriptos ejus executores vel majorem partem ipsorum, et si hoc non sufficeret, possint vendere de aliis suis bonis.

Item reliquit venerabili fratri Martino de Signa, Magistro in sacra theologia, conventus Sancti Spiritus Ordinis heremitarum Sancti Augustini omnes suos libros, excepto Breviario dicti testatoris cum ista condictione, quod dictus Magister Martinus possit uti dictis libris, et de eis exhibere copiam cui voluerit, donec vixerit, ad hoc ut ipse teneatur rogare Deum pro anima dicti testatoris, et tempore suæ mortis debeat consignare dictos libros conventui fratrum Sancti Spiritus, sine aliqua diminutione, et debeant micti in quodam armario dicti loci et ibidem debeant perpetuo remanere ad hoc ut quilibet de dicto conventu possit legere et studere super dictis libris, et ibi scribi facere modum et formam presentis testamenti et facere inventarium de dicti libris.

Item reliquit et dari voluit et assignari per infrascriptos ejus executores, et majorem partem ipsorum superviventem ex eis, Monasterio fratrum Sanctæ Mariæ de Sancto Sepulcro dal Pogetto sive dalle Campora extra muros civitatis Florentie omnes et singulas reliquias sanctas, quæ dictus dominus Johannes, magno tempore, et cum magno labore, procuravit habere de diversis mundi partibus.

Item reliquit operariis ecclesiæ Sancti Jacobi de Certaldo pro dicta ecclesia recipientibus unam tabulum alebastri Virginis Mariæ, unam pianetam cum istola et manipolo zendadi vermigli, unum palium parvum pro altare drappe vermigli, cum uno guancialetto pro altare cum tribus guainis corporalium.

Item unum vasum stagni pro retinendo aquam benedictam.

Item unum paliettum parvum drappi, foderatum cum fodera zendadi gialli.

Item reliquit dominæ Sandræ, uxori Francisci Lapi Bonamichi unam tavolettam in qua est pictum signum Virginis Mariæ cum suo filio in brachio et ab alio latere uno teschio di morto.

In omnibus autem aliis suis bonis mobilibus et immobilibus presentibus et futuris, Boccacium et Antonium ejus nepotes et filios Jacobi Boccacii predicti de Certaldo equis portionibus, sibi universales heredes instituit et omnes alios filios et filias, tam natos quam nascituros de dicto Jacobo ex legiptima uxore dicti Jacobi una cum dictis Boccacio et Antonio equis portionibus sibi heredes instituit cum pacto quod omnes fructus et redditus bonorum dicti testatoris debeant duci in domo dicti Jacobi, prout dictus Jacobus voluerit, ad hoc ut possit alere se et ejus uxorem et filios, quos tunc habebit, et hoc quoque pacto quod suprascripti ejus heredes non possint, audeant, vel presumant directe, vel indirecte, tacite vel expresse vendere vel alienare de bonis dicti testatoris, nisi excesserint ætatem triginta annorum, et tunc cum consensu dicti Jacobi eorum patris, si tunc viveret, salvo quod in casu in quo vellent nubere aliquam vel aliquas eorum sorores, et tunc fiat cum consensu infrascriptorum tutorum.

Et simili modo mandavit infrascriptis suis heredibus ne aliquo tempore donec, et quousque invenirentur de discendentibus Bocchaccii Chellini patris dicti testatoris, et dicti Jacobi per lineam masculinam, etiam posito quod non essent legiptimi, possint audeant vel presumant vendere vel alienare domum dicti testatori, positam in populo Sancti Jacobi de Certaldo, confinatam a primo Via Publica, _Chiamato [sic] Borgho_ a secundo dicti testatoris, a tertio la _Via Nuova_, a quarto Guidonis Johannis de Machiavellis.

Item unum petium terræ laborativæ et partim vineatæ positum in comuni Certaldi in dicto populo Sancti Jacobi loco dicto Valle Lizia cui a primo Fossatus, a secundo dicti testatoris et Rustichelli Nicolai a tertio dicti testatoris, a quarto Andrea vocato Milglotto.

Tutores seu defensores dictorum heredum Bocchacii et Antoni licet de jure non expedit reliquit, fecit et esse voluit Jacobum Lapi Gavaciani, Pierum Dati de Canigianis, Barducium Cherichini, Franciscum Lapi Bonamichi, Leonardum Chiari domini Bottis, Jacobum Boccacii et Angelum Turini Benciveni cives florentinos et majorem partem ipsorum superviventem in eis.

Executores autem dicti testamenti reliquit, fecit et esse voluit fratrem Martinum de Signa predictum, Barducium Cherichini, Franciscum Lapi Bonamichi Angelum Turini Bencivenni, Jacobum Bocchacii cives Florentinos et majorem partem ipsorum superviventum ex eis, dans et concedens dictus testator dictis suis executoribus et majori parti ipsorum non obstantibus omnibus supradictis plenam baliam et liberam potestatem de bonis dicti testatoris pro hujusmodi executione sequenda et adimplenda vendendi et alienandi et pretium recipiendi et confitendi et de evictione bonorum vendendorum promictendi tenutam et corporalem possessionem dandi et tradendi jura et actiones dandi et vendendi et quamlibet quantitatem pecunie petendi et recipiendi et finem et remissionem de receptis faciendi, et si opus fuerit coram quibuscumque rogandi, agendi et defendendi, et omnia faciendi quæ sub agere et causari nomine et principaliter ordinaverit et omnia alia faciendi quæ in predictis fuerint opportuna.

Et hanc suam ultimam voluntatem asseruit esse velle, quam valere voluit jure testamenti, quod si jure testamenti non valeret, seu non valebit, valeat et valebit, et ea omnia valere jussit et voluit jure codicillorum, et cujuscumque alterius ultime voluntatis, quo et quibus magis valere et tenere potest, seu poterit, cassans, irritans et annullans omne aliud testamentum, et ultimam voluntatem actenus per eum conditum, non obstantibus aliquibus verbis derogationis inscriptis in illo vel illis, quorum omni etiam derogatione idem testator asseruit se penitere, et voluit hoc presens testamentum et ultimam voluntatem prevalere omnibus aliis testamentis, actenus per eum conditis, quo et quibus magis et melius valere et tenere potest seu poterit.

* * * * *

Ego Tinellus filius olim ser Bonasere de Pasignano, civis fiorentinus, imperiali auctoritate judex ordinarius et notarius publicus predictis omnibus dum agerentur interfui, et ea rogatus scripsi et publicavi, in quorum etc. me subscripsi.

APPENDIX VI

ENGLISH WORKS ON BOCCACCIO

(_a_) BIOGRAPHY

Creighton, M.

In _The Academy_, vol. i (London, 1875), p. 570. A review of CORAZZINI: _Le Lettere edite e inedite_.

Dubois, H.

Remarks on the Life and Writings of Boccaccio (London, 1804).

Hewlett, Maurice.

Giovanni Boccaccio as Man and Author, in _The Academy_, vol. xlvi (1894), pp. 469-70.

Hutton, Edward.

Giovanni Boccaccio. Introduction to _The Decameron_ in _The Tudor Translations_ (London, 1909).

Hutton, Edward.

Country Walks about Florence (London, 1908).

Deals with the Casa di Boccaccio, Poggio Gherardo, and Villa Palmieri.

Landor, W. S.

The Pentameron, or Interviews of Messer Giovanni Boccaccio and Messer Francesco Petrarca, etc. etc. (London). Cf. also _The Quarterly Review_, vol. lxiv (1839), pp. 396-406.

Owen, J.

The Skeptics of the Italian Renaissance (London, 1893), pp. 128-47.

Preston, H. W., and Dodge, L.

Studies in the Correspondence of Petrarch, in _The Atlantic Monthly_ (Boston, U.S.A.), vol. lxxii (1893), pp. 89, 284, and 395.

Robinson, J. H., and Rolfe, H. W.

Petrarch, the First of Modern Scholars, etc. (New York and London, Putnams, 1898).

A selection from his correspondence with Boccaccio and others.

Ross, Janet.

A Stroll in Boccaccio's Country, in _National Review_, May, 1894, pp. 364-71.

Deals with the country about Fiesole and Settignano, where Boccaccio spent his earliest childhood.

Symonds, J. A.

Giovanni Boccaccio as Man and Author (London, 1895).

This was, till the publication of the present work, the fullest account of Boccaccio in English; but it is untrustworthy and altogether unworthy of the author.

Wilkins, E. H.

Calmeta, in _Modern Language Notes_, vol. xxi, no. 7.

Mr. Wilkins tries to identify Calmeta with Andalò di Negro. See _supra_, p. 20.

(_b_) WORKS

Anon.

The Decameron of Boccaccio, in _The Edinburgh Review_ (1893).

Anon.

Novels of the Italian Renaissance, in _The Edinburgh Review_ (1897).

Anon.

Boccaccio as a Quarry, in _The Quarterly Review_, (1898), p. 188.

Collier, J. P.

The History of Patient Grisel: two early tracts in black-letter, with introd. and notes. _Publications of the Percy Society_, vol. iii (London, 1842).

Cotte, C.

An Old English Version of the Decameron, in _The Athenæum_ (1884), no. 2954.

Cunliffe, J. W.

Gismond of Salern. _Publications of the Modern Language Association of America_, vol. xxi (1906), part 2.

This deals with the origins of Decameron, iv, 1.

Dibdin, T. F.

The Bibliographical Decameron (London, 1817).

Deals with editions of the _Decameron_, the _Fiammetta_, and the _Ameto_.

Einstein, Lewis.

The Italian Renaissance in England (New York, 1902).

Deals with the influence of Boccaccio on English Renaissance Literature.

Garnett, R.

A History of Italian Literature (London, 1898).

Cap. vii deals with Boccaccio.

Kuhns, O.

Dante and the English Poets from Chaucer to Tennyson (New York, 1904).

The author speaks also of Boccaccio.

MacMechan, M.

The Relation of Hans Sachs to the Decameron (Halifax, 1889).

Melhuish, W. F.

Boccaccio's "Genealogy of the Gods," in _The Bookworm_, (1890), pp. 125-8.

Neilson, A. W.

The Origins and Sources of the Court of Love, in _Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature_, vol. vi (1899).

Neilson, A. W.

The Purgatory of Cruel Beauties: a Note on Decameron, v, 8, in _Romania_, xxix, p. 85 _et seq._ (1900).

Scott, F. N.

Boccaccio's "De Genealogia Deorum" and Sidney's _Apologie_, in _Modern Language Notes_, vi (1891), part iv.

Spingarn, J. E.

A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance (New York, 1899).

Stillmann, W.

The Decameron and its Villas, in _The Nineteenth Century_, August, 1899.

Symonds, J. A.

The Renaissance in Italy, vol. iv (Italian Literature), (London, 1881).

Toynbee, Paget.

Benvenuto da Imola and the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, in _Romania_, vol. xxix (1900), No. 115.

Toynbee, Paget.

The Bibliography of Boccaccio's _Genealogia Deorum_, in _Athenæum_, 1899, No. 3733.

Wagner, C. P.

The Sources of El Cavallero Cifar, in _Revue Hispanique_, vol. x (1903), Nos. 33-4, p. 4 _et seq._

Wiltshire, W. H.

The master of the subjects in the _Bocace_ of 1476, in _Catalogue of Early Prints in the Brit. Mus._, vol. ii, p. 113 _et seq._ (London, 1883).

Woodbridge, E.

Boccaccio's Defence of Poetry as contained in Lib. XIV of the _De Genealogia Deorum_, in _Pub. of the Mod. Lang. Assoc. of America_, vol. xiii (1900), part 3.

(_c_) BOCCACCIO AND DANTE

Cook, A. S.

The Opening of Boccaccio's Life of Dante, in _Modern Language Notes_, vol. xvii (1902), pp. 276-9.

Dinsmore, C. A.

Aids to the Study of Dante (Boston, 1903). Cap. ii speaks of Boccaccio's life of Dante.

Moore, E.

Dante and his Early Biographers (London, 1890). Cap. ii deals with the _Life_ and lives attributed to Boccaccio, pp. 4-5.

Smith, T. R.

The Earliest Lives of Dante, translated from the Italian of Giovanni Boccaccio and Leonardo Bruni Aretino (New York, 1901).

Toynbee, P.

Boccaccio's Commentary on the _Divina Commedia_, in _Mod. Lang. Rev._ (Cambridge, 1907), vol. ii, p. 97 _et seq._

Wicksteed, P. H.

The Early Lives of Dante (London, 1907).

Witte, K.

The Two Versions of Boccaccio's _Life of Dante_, in _Essays on Dante_, etc., p. 262 _et seq._ (London, 1898).

APPENDIX VII

BOCCACCIO AND CHAUCER AND SHAKESPEARE

(_a_) BOCCACCIO AND CHAUCER

The standard histories, e.g. _Cambridge History of English Literature_; Jusserand, _Histoire Littéraire du Peuple Anglaise_; and Ten Brink, _English Literature_, I have not mentioned.

ENGLISH WORKS

Axon, W. E. A.

Italian Influence on Chaucer. In _Chaucer Memorial Lectures_ (London, Asher, 1900).

Bryant, A.

Did Boccaccio Suggest the Character of Chaucer's Knight? In _Modern Language Notes_, vol. xvii (1902), part 8.

Buchheim, C. A.

Chaucer's _Clerke's Tale_ and Petrarch's Version of the Griselda Story. In _Athenæum_, 1894, No. 3470, p. 541 _et seq._

Child, C. G.

Chaucer's _House of Fame_, and Boccaccio's _Amorosa Visione_. In _Modern Language Notes_, vol. x (1895), part 6, pp. 190-2.

Child, C. G.

Chaucer's _Legend of Good Women_ and Boccaccio's _De Genealogia Deorum_. In _Modern Language Notes_, vol. xi (1896).

Clerke, E. M.

Boccaccio and Chaucer. In _National Review_, vol. viii (1886), p. 379.

Hamilton, G. L.

The Indebtedness of Chaucer's _Troilus and Criseyde_ to Guido delle Colonne's _Historia Troiana_ (New York, 1903). Speaks of the _Filostrato_.

Hammond, E. P.

Chaucer: a Bibliographical Manual (New York, 1908). This is a splendid piece of work. For Chaucer and Boccaccio, see pp. 80-81, 151-2, 270-3, 305-7, 398-9, 486-7.

Jusserand, J. J.

Did Chaucer meet Petrarch? In _The Nineteenth Century_, No. 232 (1899), pp. 993-1005.

Ker, W. P.

Essays in Mediæval Literature (London, 1906).

Koch, Johann.

Essays on Chaucer, pp. 357-417 (1878).

Launsbury, Thos.

Studies in Chaucer, his Life and Writings, p. 235 (London, 1892).

Lowes, J. L.

The Prologue of the _Legend of Good Women_ considered in Chronological Relation.

_Publications of Mod. Lang. Ass. of America_, vol. xx (1906).

Mather, A.

Chaucer in Italy. In _Modern Language Notes_, vol. xi (1896).

Ogle, G.

Gualtherus and Griselda, or The Clerke of Oxford's Tale, from Boccace, Petrarch, and Chaucer (Bristol, 1739).

Palgrave, F. T.

Chaucer and the Italian Renaissance. In _The Nineteenth Century_, vol. xxiv (1838), pp. 350-9.

Rossetti, W. M.

Chaucer's _Troylus and Criseyde_ (from Harl. M.S., 3943), compared with Boccaccio's _Filostrato_. Chaucer Society (Trübner), part 1, 1875--part 2, 1883.

Tatlock, J.

Chaucer's _Vitremyte_. In _Modern Language Notes_, vol. xxi (1906), p. 62.

Tatlock, J.

The Dates of Chaucer's _Troilus and Criseyde_. In _Modern Philology_ (Chicago, 1903).

Ward, A. W.

_Chaucer_, (London, 1879), p. 166.

FOREIGN WORKS

Ballmann, O.

Chaucers einfluss auf das englische drama im Zeitalter der Königen Elisabeth und der beiden ersten Stuart-Könige. In _Anglia, Zeitschrift für Eng. Philologie_, xxv (1902), p. 2 ET SEQ.

Bellezza, P.

Introduzione allo studio de' fonti italiani di G. Chaucer, etc. (Milano, 1895).

Chiarini, C.

Dalle "Novelle di Canterbury" di G. Chaucer (Bologna, 1897).

Chiarini, C.

Intorno alle "Novelle di Canterbury" di G. Chaucer. In _Nuova Antologia_, vol. lxxii (1897), fasc. 21, p. 148, and fasc. 22, p. 325.

Demogoet, J.

Histoire des littératures étrangères considérées dans leurs rapports avec le développement de la littérature française. Littératures Méridionales. Italie-Espagne (Hachette, 1880). See cap. vi.

Engel, E.

Geschichte der englischen Litteratur von ihren Anfangen bis auf die neueste Zeit mit einem Anhange: Die amerikanische Litteratur (Leipzig, 1883).

Vol. iv of the _Geschichte der Weltlitteratur in Einzeldarstellung_. At pp. 54-76, Boccaccio and Chaucer are spoken of; at p. 133, Boccaccio and Sackville; at p. 263, Boccaccio and Dryden, etc.

Fischer, R.

Zu den Kunstformen des mittelalterlichen Epos. Hartmann's Iwein, Das Nibelungenlied, Boccaccio's Filostrato und Chaucer's _Troylus und Cryseide_. In _Weiner Beiträge zur Englischen Philologie_, vol. ix (1898).

Hortis, A.

Studj sulle opere Latine di Gio. Boccaccio con particolare riguardo alla storia dell' erudizione nel medioevo e alle litterature straniere (Trieste, 1879).

Kissner, A.

Chaucer in seinen Beziehungen zur italienischen Litteratur (Bonn, 1867).

This is the only general study of Chaucer's indebtedness to Italy.

Koch, T.

Chaucer Schriften. In _Englische Studien_, vol. xxxvi (1905), part i, pp. 131-49.

Koch, J.

Ein Beitrag zur Kritik Chaucers. In _Englische Studien_, vol. i (1877), pp. 249-93.

Koeppel, Emil.

Boccaccio's _Amorosa Visione_. In _Anglia_ (under Chauceriana), vol. xiv (1892), pp. 233-8.

Landau, Marc.

Beiträge zur Geschichte der italienischen Novelle (Vienna, 1875). Especially iv, 5.

Mounier, M.

La Renaissance de Dante à Luther (Paris, 1884).

See p. 183 _et seq._ for Boccaccio and Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dryden.

Rajna, P.

Le origini della novella narrata dal "Frankeleyn" nei Canterbury Tales del Chaucer. In _Romania_, xxxii (1903), pp. 204-67.

Refers to _Decameron_, v, 5.

Segré, C.

Chaucer e Boccaccio. In _Fanfulla della Domenica_, vol. xxii (1900), p. 47.

Segré, C.

Studi petrarcheschi (Firenze, 1903).

Torraca, F.

Un passo oscuro di G. Chaucer. In _Journal of Comparative Literature_, vol. i (1903).

Von Wlislocki, H.

Vergleichende Beiträge zu Chaucers Canterbury-Geschichten. In _Zeitschrift für vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte und Ren. Litt._, N.S., ii (1889), pp. 182-99.

Willert, H.

G. Chaucer, _The House of Fame_. Text, Varianten, Ammerkungen, Progr. Ostern., 1888 (Berlin, 1888).

For the _Amorosa Visione_ and Chaucer.

(_b_) BOCCACCIO AND SHAKESPEARE

See also under Chaucer.

Chiarini, G.

Le fonti del mercante di Venezia. In _Studi Shakespeariani_ (Livorno, 1897).

Concerned with Gower and Shakespeare, _Decameron_, x, 1.

Koeppel, E.

Studien zur Geschichte der italienischen Novelle in der Englischen Litteratur des sechzehnten Jahrhunderst (Strassburg, 1892). This is vol. lxx of the _Quellen und Forschungen zur Sprach und Culturgeschichte der Germanischen Völker_. A most important study of the English versions of the _Decameron_.

Leonhardt, B.

Zu Cymbelin. In _Anglia_, vii (1884), fasc. iii.

Levi, A. R.

Shakespeare e la parodia omerica. In _Nuova Rassegna di Lett. Mod._, vol. iv (1906), fasc. 2, pp. 113-16.

Concerning the _Filostrato_.

Levy, S.

Zu Cymbelin. In _Anglia_, vii (1884), p. 120 _et seq._

S. Levy contends that _Decameron_, ii, 9 is the source of _Cymbeline_. B. Leonhardt denies it.

Mascetta-Caracci, L.

Shakespeare e i classici italiani a proposito di un sonetto di Guido Guinizzelli (Lanciano, 1902).

Ohle, R.

Shakespeares Cymbeline, und seine romanischen Vorläufer (Berlin, 1890).

P[aris], G.

Une version orientale du thème de "All's well that ends well." In _Romania_, vol. xvi (1887), p. 98 _et seq._

Segré, C.

Un' eroina del B. e l' "Elena," Shakespeariana.

In _Fanfulla della Domenica_, vol. xxiii (1901), p. 16.

Compares "All's well that ends well" with _Decameron_, iii, 9.

Siefken, O.

Der Konstanze-Griseldetypus in der englischen Litteratur bis auf Shakespeare (Ruthenow, 1904).

For _Decameron_, x, 10.

APPENDIX VIII

SYNOPSIS OF THE _DECAMERON_ TOGETHER WITH SOME WORKS TO BE CONSULTED

GENERAL:

MANNI, D. M. _Istoria del Decameron_ (Firenze, 1742).

BOTTARI, G. _Lezioni sopra il Decameron_ (Firenze, 1818).

MASSARINI, T. _Storia e fisiologia dell' arte di ridere_ (Milan, 1901), vol. ii.

CONCERNING SEVERAL TALES:

DI FRANCIA, L. _Alcune novelle del Decameron_, in _Giornale Stor. della Lett. Ital._, vol. xliv (1904).

Treats of i, 2; iv, 2; v, 10; vii, 2; vii, 4; vii, 6; viii, 10; x, 8.

ZUMBINI, B. _Alcune novelle del B. e i suoi criterii d' arte_, in _Atti della R. Acc. della Crusca_ (Firenze, 1905).

Treats of ii, 4; ii, 5; ii, 6; iii, 6; iv, 1; iv, 10; v, 6; vii, 2; x, 6.

PROEM

_Here begins the first day of the Decameron, on which, after it has been shown by the author how the persons mentioned came together to relate these stories, each one, under the presidency of Pampinea, related some amusing matter that they could think of._

The Proem is divided into two parts in the best editions. The first part having for title:

"Here begins the book called Decameron, otherwise Prince Galeotto, wherein are combined one hundred novels told in ten days by seven ladies and three young men."

In the second part the irony against the clergy is obvious.

For the Palace in which the gathering takes place see G. MANCINI, _Poggio Gherardi, primo ricetto alle Novellatrici del B._ (Firenze, Cellini, 1858), and W. STILLMAN, _The Decameron and its Villas_, in _The Nineteenth Century_, August, 1899, and N. MASELLIS, _I due palagi di rifugio e la valle delle donne nel Decameron_ in _Rassegna Nazionale_, June 16, 1904, and JANET ROSS, _Florentine Villas_ (Dent, 1903), and EDWARD HUTTON, _Country Walks about Florence_ (Methuen, 1908), cap. i.

THE FIRST DAY

PAMPINEA QUEEN

_Subject of Tales._--Various.

NOVEL I

BY PAMFILO

_Ciappelletto deceives a holy friar by a sham confession, and dies; and although he was an arch-rogue during his life, yet he was regarded as a saint after his death, and called San Ciappelletto._

Against the Friars.

For a Latin version of this tale consult G. DA SCHIO, _Sulla vita e sugli scritti di Antonio Loschi_ (Padova, 1858), p. 145.

For some interesting documents see C. PAOLI, _Documenti di Ser Ciappelletto_, in _Giornale St. d. Lett It._, vol. v (1885), p. 329. G. FINZI, _La novella boccaccesca di Ser Ciappelletto_, in _Bib. d. scuole it._, vol. iii (1891), p. 105 _et seq._, is a good comment. And SILVIO PELLINI, _Una novella del Decameron_ (Torino, 1887), gives us a reprint from the Basle edition of 1570 of the Latin translation of Olimpia Morata.

NOVEL II

BY NEIFILE

_Abraham the Jew went to Rome at the instigation of Jehannot de Chevigny, and seeing the wicked manner of life of the clergy there, he returned to Paris and became a Christian._

Against the clergy.

B. ZUMBINI, in _Studi di Lett. Straniere_ (Firenze, 1893), p. 185 _et seq._, compares this novel with Lessing's _Nathan der Weise_. P. TOLDO, in _Giornale St. d. Lett. Ital._, xlii (1903), p. 335 _et seq._, finds here a Provençal story. L. DI FRANCIA, in _Giornale, sup._, xliv (1904), examines the origins with much care. J. BONNET, _Vie d'Olympia Morata_ (Paris, 1851), cap. ii, p. 53, speaks of the Morata translation of this novel and of _Decameron_, x, 10.

NOVEL III

BY FILOMENA

_The Jew Melchisedec escapes from a trap which Saladin laid for him, by telling him a story about three rings._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 30.

See G. TARGIONI-TOZZETTI, _Novelletta del Mago e del giudeo_ (Ferrara, 1869). L. CAPPELLETTI, _Commento sopra la 3a novella della prima giornata del Dec._ (Bologna, 1874). A. TOBLER, _Li dis dou vrai aniel. Die Parabel von dem achten Ringe französische Dichtung des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts_ (Leipzig, 1884). G. PARIS, _La poésie du moyen âge_, 2^e série (Paris, 1903), No. 12. _La parabole des trois anneaux._ G. BERTINO, _Le diverse redazioni della Novella dei tre anelli_, in _Spigolature Letterarie_ (Sassari, Scano, 1903). T. GIANNONE, _Una novella del B. e un dramma del Lessing_ (Nathan the Wise), in _Rivista Abruzzese_, xv (1900), p. 32 _et seq._

NOVEL IV

BY DIONEO

_A monk who had incurred a severe punishment for an offence that he had committed, saved himself from it by convicting his abbot of the same fault._

Against the Monks.

See J. BÉDIER, _Les fabliaux études de littérature populaire et d'histoire littéraire du moyen âge_ (Paris, 1893).

NOVEL V

BY FIAMMETTA

_The Marchioness of Monferrat cures the King of France of his senseless passion by means of a repast of hens and by a few suitable words._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, ii (1567), No. 16.

For sources see S. PRATO, _L' orma del leone, racconto orientale considerato nella tradizione popolare_, in _Romania_, xii (1883), p. 535 _et seq._

NOVEL VI

BY EMILIA

_An honest layman, by means of a fortunate jest, reproves the hypocrisy of the clergy._

Against the clergy.

See V. ROSSI, in _Dai tempi antichi ai tempi moderni; da Dante al Leopardi_ (Milano, 1904). Una novella boccaccesca in azione nel secolo xv, p. 419 _et seq._

NOVEL VII

BY FILOSTRATO

_Bergamino reproves Messer Cane della Scala in a very clever manner, by the story of Primasso and the Abbot of Cluny._

See P. RAJNA, _Intorno al cosidetto "Dialogus creaturarum" ed al suo autore_, in _Giornale Stor. d. Lett. Ital._, x (1887), p. 50 _et seq._

NOVEL VIII

BY LAURETTA

_By a few witty words Guglielmo Borsiere overcomes the covetousness of Ermino de' Grimaldi._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 31.

NOVEL IX

BY ELISA

_The King of Cyprus, being reproved by a lady of Gascony, from being indolent and worthless becomes a virtuous prince._

NOVEL X

BY PAMPINEA

_Messer Alberto of Bologna modestly puts a lady to the blush, who wished to do the same by him, as she thought that he was in love with her._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 32.

THE SECOND DAY

FILOMENA QUEEN

_Subject._--The fortune of those who after divers adventures have at last attained a goal of unexpected felicity.

NOVEL I

BY NEIFILE

_Martellino disguises himself as a cripple, and pretends that he has been cured by touching the dead body of St. Arrigo. His fraud is exposed, he is thrashed, taken into custody, and narrowly escapes being hanged, but luckily manages to get off._

NOVEL II

BY FILOSTRATO

_Rinaldo d' Asti having been robbed, comes to Castel Guglielmo, where a handsome widow entertains him, and amply recompenses him for his losses, and he returns home well and happy._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 33.

See G. GALVANI, _Di S. Giuliano io_ SPADALIERE _e del_ PATER NOSTER, _usato dirgli dai viandati ad illustrazione di un luogo del Decamerone del B._, in _Lezioni accademiche_ (Modena, 1840), vol. ii; also A. GRAF, _Per la novella XII del Decamerone_, in _Giorn. Stor. d. Lett. Ital._, VII (1886), pp. 179-87, and IDEM., _Miti leggende e superstizioni del Medio Evo_, vol. ii (Torino, 1893); also G. FOGOLARI, _La Leggenda di S. Giuliano: Affreschi della 2a meta del sec. xiv. nel Duomo di Trento_, in _Tridentum_, v (1902), fasc. 10, pp. 433-44, vi, fasc. 2 and fasc. 12. See also E. BAXMANN, _Middleton's Lustpiel, "The Widow," Boccaccio's "Decameron," II, 2, and III, 3_ (Halle, 1903).

NOVEL III

BY PAMPINEA

_Three gentlemen, having squandered their fortunes, are brought to poverty; one of their nephews going home in despair, makes the acquaintance of an abbot, whom he afterwards recognises as the daughter of the King of England, who marries him, makes good all his uncles' losses, and reinstates them all in their former prosperity._

Appeared in PAINTERS'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 34.

NOVEL IV

BY LAURETTA

_Landolfo Ruffolo becomes very poor and turns pirate. He is taken prisoner by the Genoese, is shipwrecked, and saves himself on a chest full of jewels, is entertained by a poor woman in Corfù, and returns home a rich man._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 35.

See B. ZUMBINI, _La novella di Landolfo Ruffolo_, in _La Biblioteca delle scuole Italiane_, XI (1905), fasc. 6, pp. 65-6.

NOVEL V

BY FIAMMETTA

_Andreuccio of Perugia, coming to Naples in order to buy horses, meets with three unfortunate adventures in one night; but escapes from them all fortunately, and returns home with a very valuable ruby._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, i (1566), No. 36.

See L. CAPPELLETTI, _Andreuccio da Perugia: commento sopra la V novella della 2a giornata del Decamerone_ (Firenze, 1879). F. LIEBRECHT, _Zum "Decamerone,"_ in _Jahrbuch für rom. und eng. Literatur_, xv (1877), fasc. 3, compares this story with an Eastern tale.

NOVEL VI

BY EMILIA

_Madame Beritola was found on an island with two young goats, having lost her two children. She went to Lunigiana, where one of her sons had entered the service of a gentleman of that district, and being found with his master's daughter, was thrown into prison. When the Sicilians rebelled against King Charles, the mother recognised her son, who marries his master's daughter, finds his brother, and they rise again to great distinction._

Appeared in GREENE'S _Perimedes the Blacksmith_ (1588).

See L. CAPPELLETTI, _Madonna Beritola: Commento_, in _Propugnatore_, xii (1879), pt. i, pp. 62 _et seq._

NOVEL VII

BY PAMFILO

_The Sultan of Babylon sends his daughter to become the bride of the King of Algarve, but during the space of four years she, through different accidents, passes through the hands of nine different men in various countries. At last she is restored to her father, and goes, as a virgin, to the King of Algarve, as whose bride she had first set out._

See E. MONTÉGUT, _La fiancée du roi du Garbe et le Décaméron_, in _Revue de deux mondes_, June 1, 1863.

NOVEL VIII

BY ELISA

_The Count of Antwerp is accused, though he is innocent, and goes into exile, leaving his two children in England. Returning from Ireland as a stranger, he finds them both in very prosperous circumstances. He himself enters the army of the King of France as a common soldier, is found to be innocent, and restored to his former position._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 37.

NOVEL IX

BY FILOMENA

_Bernabò of Genoa is cheated out of his money by Ambrogiuolo, and orders his own innocent wife to be put to death. She escapes in men's clothes, and enters the Sultan's service, meets the cheat, and sends for her husband to Alexandria, where Ambrogiuolo meets with his due reward. She then resumes her female attire, and returns to Genoa with her husband, and with great wealth._

Appeared in _Westward for Smelts_, by Kind Kit of Kingston (1620).

For the origin of "Cymbeline" from this tale see B. LEONHARDT, _Zu Cymbelin_, in _Anglia_, vii (1884), fasc. 3, and S. LEVY, in _Anglia_, vii, p. 120 _et seq._; R. OHLE, _Shakespeare's Cymbeline und seine romanischen Vorläufer_ (Berlin, 1890). For a Sicilian original of this tale see G. L. PERRONI, _Un "cuntu" siciliano ed una novella del Boccaccio_, in _Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari_, xix (1900), fasc. 2. See also G. PARIS, _Le conte de la gageure dans Boccace_, in _Misc. di studi critici in onore di A. Graf_ (Bergamo, 1903), pp. 107-16.

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_Paganino of Monaco carries off the wife of Ricciardo da Chinzica, who, finding out where she is, goes after her and makes friends with Paganino. He demands his wife back, and Paganino promises to restore her if she herself wishes it. She, however, has no desire to return to him, so remains with Paganino, who marries her after Chinzica's death._

THE THIRD DAY

NEIFILE QUEEN

_Subject._--The luck of such as have painfully acquired some much coveted thing, or having lost it have recovered it.

NOVEL I

BY FILOSTRATO

_Masetto da Lamporecchio feigns dumbness, and becomes gardener to a convent of nuns, which leads to the consequence that they all lie with him._

Against the Nuns.

For some sources and precedents for this story see P. TOLDO, _Rileggendo le Mille e una Notte_, in _Miscellanea di studi critici ed. in onore di A. Graf_ (Bergamo, 1903), p. 491 _et seq._

NOVEL II

BY PAMPINEA

_A groom of King Agilulf takes his place with the queen. Agilulf finds it out, discovers the offender, and cuts off his hair, whilst he pretends to be asleep. He, however, marks all his fellow-grooms in the same way, and thus escapes punishment._

NOVEL III

BY FILOMENA

_A lady, who has fallen in love with a handsome gentleman, makes use of a friar, under the cloak of confession and scruples of conscience, and without his perceiving it, to act as her intermediary._

Against the Friars.

On this tale see E. BAXMANN, _Middleton's Lustpiel, "The Widow," und Boccaccio's "Decameron" III, 3, and II, 2_ (Halle, 1903).

NOVEL IV

BY PAMFILO

_Dom Felice teaches "Friar" Puccio how he may be saved by doing a penance; while "Friar" Puccio is performing the penance, Dom Felice passes the time pleasantly with his wife._

Against the Monks.

NOVEL V

BY ELISA

_Zima gives his palfrey to Messer Francesco Vergellesi on the condition of being allowed to speak to his wife out of earshot of anyone, and the wife making no response, he answers for her himself, and the usual consequence soon follows._

Appeared in H. C.'s _Forest of Fancy_ (1579).

In this and the following tale cf. P. TOLDO, _Quelques sources italiennes du théâtre comique de Houdard de la Motte_, in _Bulletin Italien_, vol. i (1901), p. 200 _et seq._

NOVEL VI

BY FIAMMETTA

_Ricciardo Minutolo loves the wife of Filippello Fighinolfi, whom he knows to be jealous of her husband. He tells her that Filippello has an assignation the following day at a bagnio with his wife, and the lady goes there to meet her husband. Imagining herself to be in bed with her husband, she finds herself with Ricciardo._

This story, told by Fiammetta, is, in my opinion, significant for Boccaccio's own love affair. In it is told how a woman is tricked into love.

Cf. also P. TOLDI, _ubi supra_.

NOVEL VII

BY EMILIA

_Tedaldo, angry with one of his mistresses, quits Florence. Some time after he returns in the disguise of a pilgrim, speaks with the lady, and convinces her of her error; saves the life of her husband, who has been condemned for killing him, reconciles him to his brothers, and enjoys unmolested the favours of the lady._

Censure of the clergy.

Consult M. COLOMBO, _Due lettere scritte al Can. Dom. Moreni sopra due luoghi del Decam._, in _Opuscoli_ (Padova, 1832), vol. iii, p. 176 _et seq._

NOVEL VIII

BY LAURETTA

_Ferondo having swallowed a certain drug, is buried for dead. He is taken out of the sepulchre by the abbot, who has a liaison with his wife, put in prison, and made to believe that he is in purgatory; he is then resuscitated, and brings up a child as his own, which the abbot has begotten by his wife._

Against the Monks.

Consult P. TOLDO, _Les morts qui mangent_, in _Bulletin Italien_, vol. v (1905), P. 291 _et seq._

NOVEL IX

BY NEIFILE

_Gillette de Narbonne cures the king of a fistula. As a reward she demands the hand of Bertram de Roussillon, who, espousing her against his will, leaves for Florence in disgust. There he has a love affair with a young lady, and lies with Gillette, believing himself to be with his mistress. She bears him twin sons, and by that means, he loving her dearly, honours her as his wife._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 38.

For the connection with _All's well that ends well_, see C. SEGRÉ, _Un' eroina del Boccaccio e l' "Elena" Shakespeariana_, in _Fanfulla della Domenica_, xxiii, 16, and G. P[ARIS], _Une version orientale du thème de "All's well that ends well,"_ in _Romania_, xvi (1887), p. 98 _et seq._

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_Alibech becomes a hermit, and is taught by one Rustico, a friar, how to put back the devil into hell; on returning home she becomes the wife of Neerbale._

Against the Friars.

This does not appear in the anonymous translation of the _Decameron_ of 1620, another story being in its place.

THE FOURTH DAY

FILOSTRATO KING

_Subject._--Love that ended in disaster.

NOVEL I

BY FIAMMETTA

_Tancred, Prince of Salerno, caused his daughter's lover to be put to death, and sends her his heart in a golden goblet. She pours poison into it, drinks it and dies._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. i (1566), No. 39.

For the sources and influence of this tale consult: G. CECIONI, _La Leggenda del cuore mangiato e tre antiche versioni in ottava rima di una novella del B._, in _Rivista contemporanea_, vol. i (1888), fasc. 9. J. ZUPITZA, _Die Mittelenglischen Bearbeitungen der Erzählung Boccaccios von Ghismonda und Guiscardo_, in _Vierteljahrsschrift für Kultur u. Litt. der Renaissance_, vol. i (1885), fasc. 1. SHERWOOD, _Die neuenglischen Bearbeitungen der Erzählung Boccaccios von Ghismonda und Guiscardo_, in _Litteraturblatt für german. und roman. Philologie_, xiii (1892), p. 412. J. W. CUNLIFFE, _Gismond of Salern_, in _Publications of Mod. Lang. Ass. of Am._, xxi (1906), fasc. 2.

NOVEL II

BY PAMPINEA

_Friar Alberto makes a woman believe that the Archangel Gabriel is in love with her, and visits her several times at night under that pretence. Afterwards he is obliged to escape out of a window for fear of her relations, and takes refuge in the house of a poor man, who the next day takes him publicly into the square and exhibits him, disguised as a wild man; he is recognised, taken away by his fellow-friars, and put into prison._

Against the Friars.

Appeared in TARLTON'S _News out of Purgatorie_ (1590).

NOVEL III

BY LAURETTA

_Three young men are in love with three sisters and take them to Crete, where the eldest sister kills her lover from jealousy. The second saves her sister from death, by giving herself to the Prince of Crete, and because of this, her lover kills her and goes away with the eldest sister. The third couple is accused of this murder, and forced to confess it by torture, and being certain that they will be put to death, they bribe their keeper to escape with them and flee to Rhodes, where they die in poverty and misery._

NOVEL IV

BY ELISA

_Gerbino, contrary to a promise which his grandfather Guglielmo had given the King of Tunis, fights with a Tunisian ship in order to carry off the king's daughter. The crew kill the princess, for which he puts them all to the sword, but is himself beheaded for that deed._

Appeared in TURBERVILLE'S _Tragical Tales_ (_ca._ 1576).

See L. CAPPELLETTI, _La novella di Gerbino, imitazioni e raffronto_, in _Cronaca minima_ (Livorno, Aug. 14, 1887.)

NOVEL V

BY FILOMENA

_Isabella's brothers put her lover to death. He appears to her in a dream, and tells her where his body is buried; whereupon, she secretly brings away his head and buries it in a pot of basil, over which she weeps for hours every day, and when her brothers take it away she dies soon afterwards._

Appeared in TURBERVILLE'S _Tragical Tales_ (_ca._ 1576).

Consult T. CANNIZZARO, _Il lamento di Lisabetta da Messina e la leggenda del vaso di basilico_ (Catania, Battiato, 1902).

On the poem of Keats see U. MENGIN, _L'Italie des romantiques_ (Paris, 1902).

There is a Sicilian love song at end of this tale.

NOVEL VI

BY PAMFILO

_A young lady called Andreuola is in love with Gabriotto. She tells him a dream that she has had, and whilst relating one that he has had, he suddenly falls into her arms, dead. Whilst she is trying to get the body to his own house, with the aid of her maid, they are both arrested by the watch. She tells the magistrate how it happened, and resists his improper advances. Her father hears what has happened to her and procures her release, as her innocence is established, but she renounces the world and becomes a nun._

NOVEL VII

BY EMILIA

_Simona and Pasquino are lovers, and, being in a garden together, Pasquino rubs his teeth with a leaf of sage, and dies immediately. Simona is arrested, and, on being brought before the judge, she wishes to explain how Pasquino met his death, and, rubbing her teeth with a leaf front the same plant, she dies on the spot._

Appeared in TURBERVILLE'S _Tragical Tales_ (_ca._ 1576).

NOVEL VIII

BY NEIFILE

_Girolamo is in love with Salvestra. His mother urges him to go to Paris, and on his return, finding his mistress married, he secretly introduces himself into her house, and dies at her side. Whilst he is being buried, Salvestra also dies on his body in the church._

Appeared in TURBERVILLE'S _Tragical Tales_ (_ca._ 1576).

NOVEL IX

BY FILOSTRATO

_Guillaume de Roussillon gives his wife the heart of de Cabestaing to eat, whom he had killed because he was her lover. When she discovers this, she throws herself out of a high window, and being killed, is buried with him._

Appeared in TURBERVILLE'S _Tragical Tales_ (_ca._ 1576).

See G. Paris, _La légende du Châtelain de Couci dans l'Inde_, in _Romania_, vol. xii (1883), p. 359 _et seq._, for a similar story.

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_A surgeon's wife puts her lover, who is in a deep sleep, into a chest, thinking him dead, and two usurers steal it. In their house he wakes up and is taken for a thief. The lady's maid tells the magistrate that she had put him into the chest which the money-lenders had stolen. By these means she saves him from the gallows, and the usurers are fined for the theft._

THE FIFTH DAY

FIAMMETTA QUEEN

_Subject._--Good fortune befalling lovers after many dire and disastrous adventures.

NOVEL I

BY PAMFILO

_Cymon becomes wise through love, and carries off Iphigenia, his mistress, by force of arms, to sea. He is put in prison at Rhodes, where he is set at liberty by Lysimachus, and they together carry off Iphigenia and Cassandra on their wedding-day, flee to Crete, marry their mistresses, and are happily summoned to return home._

First English translation, _A Pleasant and Delightful History of Galesus, Cymon, and Iphigenia, etc._, by T. C. GENT (_ca._ 1584).

Consult TRIBOLATI, F., _Diporto sulla novella I della quinta giornata del Decamerone: saggio critico_, in _Arch. Stor. per le Marche e per l' Umbria_, vol. ii (1885), fasc. 8-9. v.

NOVEL II

BY EMILIA

_Constanza loves Martuccio Gomito. When she hears that he has perished, in despair she goes quite by herself into a boat, and is driven to Susa by the wind and waves. She meets Martuccio alive in Tunis, makes herself known to him; and as he is very high in the king's favour there, because of his good counsels, the monarch bestows great wealth on him, and he marries his beloved, and returns to Lipari with her._

Appeared in GREENE'S _Perimedes the Blacksmith_ (1588).

NOVEL III

BY ELISA

_Pietro Boccamazza runs away with Agnolella, his mistress, and falls among thieves. She escapes into a wood, and is taken to a castle. Pietro is taken prisoner by the thieves, but escapes and comes to the same castle with some adventures, where he marries Agnolella, and they return to Rome._

NOVEL IV

BY FILOSTRATO

_Ricciardo Manardi is found by Lizio da Valbona in bed with his daughter, whereupon he marries her, and lives in peace and friendship with her father._

NOVEL V

BY NEIFILE

_On his death-bed Guidotto of Cremona appoints Giacomino of Pavia as guardian of his adopted daughter. Giannole di Severino and Minghino di Mingole both fall in love with the girl, and fight on her account, when it is discovered that she is the sister of Giannole, and Minghino marries her._

Consult PRATO, S., _L' orma del leone, racconto orientale considerato nella tradizione popolare_, in _Romania_, xii (1883), p. 535 _et seq._

CHASLES, E., _La Comédie en France au XVI Siècle_ (Paris, 1867). RAJNA, P., _Le origini della novella narrata dal "Frankeleyn" nei Canterbury Tales del Chaucer_, in _Romania_, xxxii (1903), p. 204 _et seq._

NOVEL VI

BY PAMPINEA

_Gianni di Procida is surprised in the arms of a girl who had been given to King Frederick, and he intends to have them burnt at the stake together. Ruggieri dell' Oria, however, recognises them both, and they are set at liberty, and marry._

Consult ZUMBINI, B., _Alcune novelle del Boccaccio e i suoi criterii d' arte_, in _Atti della R. Acc. della Crusca_ (Firenze, 1905), No. 29th Jan.

NOVEL VII

BY LAURETTA

_Teodoro is in love with Violante, the daughter of his master, Amerigo, Abbot of Trapani. She becomes pregnant, and he is sentenced to be hanged. As he is being led to execution, after being scourged, his father recognises him, he is set at liberty, and marries his mistress._

Appeared in H. C.'s _Forest of Fancy_, ii (1579).

NOVEL VIII

BY FILOMENA

_Nastagio degli Onesti loves the daughter of Paolo Traversaro, and spends much of his fortune without being able to gain her love in return. At the advice of his friends he goes to Chiassi, where he sees a lady being pursued by a huntsman, who kills her and lets his dogs devour her. He invites his own relations and those of the lady to an entertainment, lets them see this terrible chase, and she, from fear of suffering the same fate, marries him._

Appeared in _A Notable History of Nastagio and Traversari, etc._, in English verse by C. T. (1569), and in TURBERVILLE'S _Tragical Tales_ (_ca._ 1576), vol. i, and in H. C.'s _Forest of Fancy_ (1579).

Consult CAPPELLETTI, L., _Commento sopra l' VIII nov. della V. giornata dell Decameron_ in _Propugnatore_, vol. viii (1875), parts i and ii. BORGOGNONI, A., _La XLVIII nov. del Decameron_, in _Domenica Letteraria_, iii (1883), 13. NEILSON, W. A., _The purgatory of cruel beauties. A note on the sources of the 8th novel of the 5th day of the Decameron_, in _Romania_, xxix (1900), p. 85 _et seq._ And for the influence of Dante here: ARULLANI, V. A., _Nella scia dantesca, alcuni oltretomba posteriori alla Divina Commedia_ (Alba, 1905).

NOVEL IX

BY FIAMMETTA

_Frederigo being in love without any return, spends all his property for the lady's sake, and at last has nothing left but one favourite hawk. The lady coming to see him unexpectedly, he has this prepared for dinner, having nothing else to give her; and she is so touched when she hears this, that she alters her mind and makes him master of herself and all her wealth._

CAPPELLETTI, L., _Commento sopra la IX novella della quinta giornata del Decameron_, in _Propugnatore_, vol. x, part i.

TOSI, I., _Longfellow e l' Italia_ (Bologna, 1906), esp. p. 89 _et seq._

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_Pietro di Vinciolo goes out to supper, and in the meanwhile his wife has a young fellow come to see her. Pietro returns home unexpectedly and discovers his wife's trick, but as he is no better himself, they manage to make it up between them._

Consult DE MARIA, U., _Dell' Asino d' oro di Apuleio e di varie sue imitazioni nella nostra letteratura_ (Roma, 1901).

THE SIXTH DAY

ELISA QUEEN

_Subject._--Of such as by some sprightly sally have repulsed an attack, or by some ready retort or device have avoided loss, peril, or scorn.

NOVEL I

BY FILOMENA

_A knight engages to carry Madonna Oretta behind him on the saddle, promising to tell her a pleasant story by the way; but the lady finding it not to be according to her taste, begs him to allow her to dismount._

NOVEL II

BY PAMPINEA

_Cisti the baker, by a sharp retort, makes Signor Geri Spina sensible of an unreasonable request._

Consult CAPPELLETTI, L., _La novella di Cisti fornaio_, in _Cronaca minima_ (Livorno, 1887, 28 August).

NOVEL III

BY LAURETTA

_Madonna Nonna de' Pulci, by a sharp repartee, silences the Bishop of Florence for an unseemly piece of raillery_.

NOVEL IV

BY NEIFILE

_Chichibio, cook to Currado Gianfiliazzi, by a prompt rejoinder which he makes to his master, turns his wrath into laughter, and escapes the punishment with which he had threatened him._

Appeared in TARLTON'S _News out of Purgatorie_ (1590), No. 4.

NOVEL V

BY PAMFILO

_Forese da Rabatta and Giotto the painter, coming from Mugello, jest at the meanness of each other's appearance._

NOVEL VI

BY FIAMMETTA

_Michele Scalza proves to certain young gentlemen how that the family of the Baronci is the most ancient of any in the world, and of Maremma, and wins a supper by it._

NOVEL VII

BY FILOSTRATO

_Madonna Filippa being found by her husband with a lover, is accused and tried for it, but saves herself by her witty reply, and has the law moderated for the future._

NOVEL VIII

BY EMILIA

_Fresco recommends his niece not to look at herself again in a mirror since, as she had averred, looking at ugly people was disagreeable to her._

NOVEL IX

BY ELISA

_Guido Cavalcanti reproves in polite terms certain Florentine knights who had taken him unawares._

Consult CAPPELLETTI, L., _La novella di Guido Cavalcanti_, in _Propugnatore_, vol. x (1677).

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_Friar Cipolla promises some country people to show them a feather from the wing of the Angel Gabriel, instead of which he finds only some coals, which he tells them are the same that roasted St. Laurence._

Appeared in TARLTON'S _News out of Purgatorie_ (_ca._ 1576), No. 5.

THE SEVENTH DAY

DIONEO KING

_Subject._--Of the tricks which either for love or for their deliverance from peril ladies have heretofore played their husbands, and whether they were by the said husbands detected or no.

NOVEL I

BY EMILIA

_Gianni Lotteringhi hears at night a knocking at his door, and wakes his wife. The latter makes him believe it is a spirit. They both go to conjure it away with a prayer, and the noise ceases._

Appeared in _The Cobler of Caunterburie_, No. 2.

NOVEL II

BY FILOSTRATO

_Peronella, hearing her husband enter, conceals her lover in a lie tub, which tub the husband had just sold. She tells him that she had also sold it to a person who was then in it, to see if it was sound. Hereupon the man jumps out, makes the husband clean it for him, he caressing the wife meanwhile, and carries it home._

Consult DE MARIA, U., _op. cit._, _supra_.

NOVEL III

BY ELISA

_Friar Rinaldo is in bed with the wife of a neighbour. The husband finding him in the bedroom of his wife, both make him believe that they are busy about a charm to cure their child of the worms._

Against the Friars.

NOVEL IV

BY LAURETTA

_Tofano shuts his wife one night out of doors, and she, not being able to persuade him to let her in, pretends to throw herself into a well, and drops a big stone in; he runs thither in a fright; she slips into the house, and, locking him out, abuses him well._

Appeared in _Westward for Smelts_, by KIND KIT OF KINGSTON (1620), No. 3.

Consult MARCOCCHIA, G., _Una novella indiana nel Boccaccio e nel Molière_ (Spalatro, 1905).

NOVEL V

BY FIAMMETTA

_A jealous man confesses his wife under a priest's habit, who tells him that she is visited every night by a friar; and, whilst he is watching the door, she lets her lover in at the house-top._

Cf. THOMAS TWINE'S _Schoolmaster_ (1576).

NOVEL VI

BY PAMPINEA

_Isabella, being in company with her gallant, called Leonetto, and being visited at the same time by one Lambertuccio, her husband returns, when she sends Lambertuccio away with a drawn sword in his hand, whilst the husband escorts Leonetto safely to his own house._

Appeared in TARLTON'S _News out of Purgatorie_ (1590), No. 7.

Consult PARIS, G., _Le lai de l'épervier_, in _Romania_ (1878).

NOVEL VII

BY FILOMENA

_Lodovico being in love with Beatrice, she sends her husband into the garden, disguised like herself, so that her lover may be with her in the meantime; and he afterwards goes into the garden and beats the husband._

Appeared in _The Hundred Mery Talys_ (1526), No. 2.

Consult SCHOFIELD, W. H., _The source and history of the seventh novel of the seventh day in the Decameron_, in _Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature_, vol. ii (Boston, 1893).

NOVEL VIII

BY NEIFILE

_A woman, who had a very jealous husband, tied a thread to her great toe, by which she informed her lover whether he should come or not. The husband found it out, and whilst he was pursuing the lover, she put her maid in her place. He takes her to be his wife, beats her, cuts off her hair, and fetches his wife's relations, who find nothing of what he had told them, and load him with reproaches._

Appeared in the _Cobler of Caunterburie_.

NOVEL IX

BY PAMFILO

_Lydia, the wife of Nicostratus, being in love with Pyrrhus, did three things which he had enjoined her, to convince him of her affection. She afterwards used some familiarities with him before her husband's face, making him believe that what he had seen was not real._

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_Two inhabitants of Siena love the same woman, one of whom was godfather to her son. This man dies, and returns, according to his promise, to his friend, and gives him an account of what is done in the other world._

THE EIGHTH DAY

LAURETTA QUEEN

_Subject of Tales._--Those tricks that daily woman plays man, or man woman or one man another.

NOVEL I

BY NEIFILE

_Gulfardo obtains from the wife of Guasparruolo a favour by giving her a sum of money. He borrows the money from her husband. He afterwards tells Guasparruolo, in her presence, that he had paid it to her, which she acknowledges to be true._

This is Chaucer's _Shipmanne's Tale_ or _Story of Don John_.

NOVEL II

BY PAMFILO

_The priest of Varlungo receives favours from a woman of his parish, and leaves his cloak in pawn. He afterwards borrows a mortar of her, which he returns, and demands his cloak, which he says he left only as a token. She mutinies, but is forced by her husband to send it._

Against the clergy.

Consult TRIBOLATI, F., _La Belcolore: diporto letterario sulla novella VII della giornata VIII del Decameron_, in _Borghini_, vol. iii (1865).

NOVEL III

BY ELISA

_Calandrino, Bruno, and Buffalmacco go to Mugnone, to look for the Heliotrope; and Calandrino returns laden with stones, supposing that he has found it. Upon this his wife scolds him, and he beats her for it; and then tells his companions what they knew better than himself._

NOVEL IV

BY EMILIA

_The rector of Fiesole is in love with a lady who has no liking for him, and he, thinking that he is in bed with her, is all the time with her maid, and her brothers bring the bishop thither to witness it._

Against the clergy.

Appeared in the _Nachgeahunt_ of Whetsone (1583).

NOVEL V

BY FILOSTRATO

_Three young sparks play a trick with a judge, whilst he is sitting upon the bench hearing causes._

NOVEL VI

BY FILOMENA

_Bruno and Buffalmacco steal a pig from Calandrino, and make a charm to find out the thief, with pills made of ginger and some sack; giving him, at the same time, pills made of aloes; thereby they make it appear that he had furtively sold the pig, and they make him pay handsomely, for fear they should tell his wife._

Consult GIANNINI, A., _Una fonte di una novella del B._, in _Fanfulla della Domenica_, August 27, 1905. DRESCHER, K., _Zu Boccaccios Novelle Dekam_, viii, 6, in _Studien zur vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte_, vi (1906), fasc. 3.

NOVEL VII

BY PAMPINEA

_A scholar loves a widow lady, Helena, who, being enamoured of another, makes him wait a whole night for her in the snow. The scholar, in order to be revenged, finds means in his turn to make the lady stand quite naked at the top of a tower for a night and a day, in the middle of July, exposed to flies, insects, and the sun._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, ii, 31 (1567).

NOVEL VIII

BY FIAMMETTA

_Two married men constantly meet together, when one of them sleeps with the wife of the other; which, that other discovering, agrees with the wife of the traitor to close him up in a chest, on which they together take their amusement._

Consult TRIBOLATI, F., _Commento sulla novella VIII della giornata VIII del Decameron_, in _Poliziano_, vol. i (1892), No. 5.

NOVEL IX

BY LAURETTA

_Messer Simone, a doctor, having been conducted during the night to a certain place by Buffalmacco to make part of a company of rovers, is thrown by Buffalmacco into a filthy ditch and left there._

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_A Sicilian girl, by a ruse, cheats a merchant out of the money he has made at Palermo; afterwards he returns, pretending to have a larger stock of goods than before, borrows a large sum of money from her, and leaves her in security nothing but water and tow._

VIDAL BEV, _Boccacce et les docks et warrants_, in _Bulletin de l'institut Égyptien_ (1883).

THE NINTH DAY

EMILIA QUEEN

_Subject._--Various.

NOVEL I

BY FILOMENA

_Madonna Francesca, beloved by a certain Rinuccio and a certain Alessandro, and not loving either of them, got rid of them cleverly, by making one of them enter a tomb as if he were dead, and sending the other to fetch him out, so that neither of them could accomplish their purpose._

NOVEL II

BY ELISA

_An abbess going in haste, and in the dark, to surprise one of her nuns, instead of her veil puts on the priest's breeches. The lady accused makes a just remark upon this, and so escapes._

Against the Nuns.

Appeared in THOMAS TWYNE'S _Schoolmaster_ (1576), and WILLIAM WARNER'S _Albion's England_ (1586-1592).

NOVEL III

BY FILOSTRATO

_Messer Simone, at the instigation of Bruno, Buffalmacco, and Nello, makes Calandrino believe that he is with child. The last-named, in return for food and money, obtains a medicine from them, and is cured without being delivered._

NOVEL IV

BY NEIFILE

_Cecco Fortarrigo loses at play all the money he had of his own, as well as that of Cecco Angiulieri, his master; then he runs away in his shirt, and pretending that the other had robbed him, he has him taken hold of by the peasants; after which he put on his clothes, and rode away on the other's horse, leaving him in his shirt._

NOVEL V

BY FIAMMETTA

_Calandrino is in love with a young girl; Bruno makes a written talisman for him, and tells him that as soon as he touches her she will follow him; Calandrino having got this from him, his wife surprises him and makes a great scene._

NOVEL VI

BY PAMFILO

_Two young gentlemen lodge at an inn. The one lies with the landlord's daughter, the other with his wife. He who has lain with the daughter gets into the father's bed afterwards, and tells him all about it, thinking it was his friend. A great noise is made in consequence. The landlord's wife, having gone into her daughter's bed, arranges everything in a few words._

Cf. _A Right Pleasaunt Historie of the Mylner of Abingdon_.

Consult VARNHAGEN, H., _Die Erzählung von der Wiege_, in _Englische Studien_, vol. ix (1886), fasc. 2.

NOVEL VII

BY PAMPINEA

_Talano of Molese dreams that his wife has her throat and face torn by a wolf. He warns her, but she refuses to follow his advice, the result being that what he had dreamed really happened._

NOVEL VIII

BY LAURETTA

_Biondello jests at Ciacco's expense by giving him a bad dinner, after which Ciacco revenges himself by causing Biondello to be beaten._

NOVEL IX

BY EMILIA

_Two young men ask advice from Solomon, the one in order to know how he can be loved, the other how he may correct his bad-tempered wife. He tells the first to love, and the other to go to the Geese's Bridge._

Consult IMBRIANI, V., _I consigli di Salamone_, in _Rivista Europea_, n.s., vol. xxiii (1882), p. 37 _et seq._ BURDACH, K., _Zum Ursprung der Salomo Sage_, in _Arch. für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Litteraturen_, cviii (1902), fasc. 1 and 3.

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_Dom Gianni, at the request of his friend Pietro, works an enchantment so as to change the latter into a mare. When he got as far as to attach the tail, Pietro, saying that he didn't want any tail, spoils the whole operation._

Against the monks.

THE TENTH DAY

PAMFILO KING

_Subject._--Of such as in matters of love or otherwise have done something with liberality or magnificence.

NOVEL I

BY NEIFILE

_A certain knight in the service of the king of Spain thinks that he is not sufficiently rewarded. The king gives a remarkable proof that this was not his fault so much as the knight's bad luck, and afterwards nobly requites him._

Consult CHIARINI, G., _Le fonti del mercanti di Venezia_, in _Studi Shakespearani_ (Livorno, 1897).

NOVEL II

BY ELISA

_Ghino di Tacco makes the abbot of Cligni prisoner, and cures him of a stomach disease; then he gives him his liberty. The abbot, on his return to the Court of Rome, reconciles Ghino to Pope Boniface, and has him made prior of a hospital._

Consult HUTTON, E., _In Unknown Tuscany_, with notes by W. HEYWOOD (Methuen, 1909), p. 101-11.

NOVEL III

BY FILOSTRATO

_Mitridanes envies the generosity of Nathan and goes to kill him, when, conversing with him, but not knowing him, and being informed in what manner he may do the deed, he goes to meet him in a wood as Nathan had directed. There he recognises him, is ashamed, and becomes his friend._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, ii (1567), No. 18.

NOVEL IV

BY LAURETTA

_Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, on his return from Modena, takes out of the grave a lady whom he had loved, and whom they had buried for dead. She recovers, and is delivered of a son, which he presents with the lady to her husband, Niccoluccio Caccianimico._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, ii (1567), No. 19.

NOVEL V

BY EMILIA

_Madonna Dianora demands from Messer Ansaldo a garden as beautiful in January as in the month of May. Messer Ansaldo, by the help of necromancers, does it. Her husband gives him permission to put himself at the disposal of Messer Ansaldo. He, having heard of her husband's generosity, relieves her of her promise, and on his side the necromancer, without wishing anything from him holds Messer Ansaldo at quits._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, ii (1567), No. 17.

NOVEL VI

BY FIAMMETTA

_King Charles the Victorious, when old, becomes enamoured of a young girl; ashamed of his foolish love, he marries her honourably like one of his sisters._

NOVEL VII

BY PAMPINEA

_King Pietro, hearing that a lady was love-sick for him, makes her a visit, and marries her to a worthy gentleman; then kissing her forehead, calls himself ever afterwards her knight._

Consult CAPPELLETTI, L., _La Lisa e il re Pietro d' Aragona_, in _Propugnatore_, vol. xi (1879), part ii, p. 108 _et seq._

NOVEL VIII

BY FILOMENA

_Sophronia, believing herself to be the wife of Gisippus, is really married to Titus Quintius Fulvus, who takes her off to Rome. There Gisippus arrives some time afterwards in great distress, and thinking him despised by Titus, declares himself guilty of a murder, in order to put an end to his life. Titus recollects him, and to save him, accuses himself, which when the murderer sees, he delivers himself up as the guilty person. Finally, they are all set at liberty by Octavius, and Titus marries Gisippus to his sister, and gives him half his estate._

Appeared in _The History of Tytuse and Gesyppus_, out of the Latin by WILLIAM WALLIS, (?) and in _The Boke of the Governors_, by Sir THOMAS ELYOT, lib. ii, cap. xii (1531).

Consult WAGNER, C. P., _The sources of El Cavallero Cifar_, in _Revue hispanique_, vol. x (1903), p. 4 _et seq._

NOVEL IX

BY PAMFILO

_Saladin, disguising himself like a merchant, is generously entertained by Messer Torello, who, going upon an expedition to the Holy Land, allowed his wife a certain time to marry again. In the meantime he is taken prisoner, and being employed to look after the hawks, is recognised by the Soldan, who shows him great respect. Afterwards Torello falls sick, and is conveyed by magic art, in one night, to Pavia, at the very time that his wife was to have been married; when he makes himself known to her, and returns with her home._

Appeared in PAINTER'S _Palace of Pleasure_, vol. ii (1567), No. 20.

Consult RAJNA, P., _La leggenda Boccaccesca del Saladino e di messer Torello_, in _Romania_, vol. vi (1877), p. 349 _et seq._ LANDAU, M., _La novella di messer Torello e le sue attinenze mitiche e leggendarie_, in _Giornale stor. della Lett. Ital_., vol. ii (1883), p. 52 _et seq._ IBID., _Le tradizioni giudaiche nella novellistica italiana_, in _Giornale cit._, vol. i (1883), p. 535 _et seq._

NOVEL X

BY DIONEO

_The Marquis of Saluzzo, having been prevailed on by his subjects to marry, in order to please himself in the affair made choice of a countryman's daughter, by whom he had two children, which he pretended to put to death. Afterwards, seeming as though he was weary of her and had taken another, he had his own daughter brought home, as if he had espoused her; whilst he sent away his wife in a most distressed condition. At length, being convinced of her patience, he brought her home again, presented her children to her, who were now of considerable years, and ever loved and honoured her as a lady._

Appeared as _The Pleasant and Sweet History of Patient Grissel_ (s.a.), and again in 1619.

Consult TRIBOLATI, F., _La Griselda_ in _Borghini_, vol. iii (1865). BUCHEIM, C. A., _Chaucer's Clerkes Tale and Petrarch's version of the Griselda Story in Athenæum_, No. 3470 (1894). SIEFKEN, O., _Der Konstanze Griseldetypus in der englischen Litteratur bis auf Shakespeare_ (Ruthenow, 1904). JUSSERAND, J. J., _Au tombeau de Pétrarque_, in _Revue de Paris_ (July, 1896), pp. 92-119. SAVORINI, L., _La Leggenda di Griselda_, in _Rivista Abruzzese_, vol. xv (1900), p. 21 _et seq._

APPENDIX IX

AN INDEX TO THE _DECAMERON_

Abraham, a Jew, i, 2

Abruzzi, vi, 10

Achaia, vii, 9

Acre, fair of, ii, 9

Adriano, ix, 6

Adulterous wife, way of dealing with, vii, 8

Adultery, defence of, vi, 7 distinction between, and prostitution, vi, 7; viii, 1 night with wife sold for 500 florins, vi, 3

Agilulf, King of Lombards, iii, 2

Agnese, Madonna, vii, 3

Agnesa, v, 5

Agnolella, v, 3

Agolante de' Lamberti, ii, 3

Alatiel, daughter of Beminedab, ii, 7

Alba, ii, 9

Alberto of Bologna, physician, i, 10

Alessandro Chiarmontesi, ix, 1

Alessandro de' Lamberti, ii, 3

Alesso Rinucci, vi, 3

Alexandria, ii, 6; ii, 7; ii, 9; x, 9

Alexis, St., chant of, vii, 1

Algarve, King of, ii, 7

Alibech, iii, 10

Alps, x, 9

Altopascio, abbey near Lucca, vi, 10

Amalfi (see Salerno), iv, 10

Ambruogia Madonna, wife of Guasparruolo Cagastraccio, viii, 1

Ambruogio Anselmini of Siena, vii, 10

Ambrogiuolo da Piacenza, ii, 9

Amerigo, Abate da Trapani, v, 7

Anagni, v, 3

Ancona, iii, 7 March of, ix, 4

Andreuola, iv, 6

Andreuccio di Pietro da Perugia, ii, 5

Anichino _alias_ Lodovico, vii, 7

Animals, love of, ii, 6

Ansaldo Gradense, x, 5

Antigonio of Formagosta, ii, 7

Antioch, ix, 6

Antioco, dependant of Osbech, king of Turks, ii, 7

Antonio d' Orso, Bp. of Florence, vi, 3

Apulia, x, 6 fairs of, ix, 10 holy places of, ii, 6

Aquamorta, ii, 7

Aragon, King Peter of, ii, 6; x, 7 Queen of, x, 7

Arcite and Palamon, Dioneo and Fiammetta sing of, vii, 10

Arezzo, vii, 4

Argos, vii, 9

Aristippus, v, 1

Aristippus, philosopher, x, 8

Aristotle, vi, 10

Armenia, ii, 7; v, 7

Arno, vi, 2; viii, 9

Arrighetto Capece of Naples, ii, 6

Arrigo, a German, ii, 1

Atheism imputed to Guido de' Cavalcanti, vi, 9

Athens, ii, 7; x, 8 Duke of, ii, 7

Atticciato, iv, 7

Aubade, v, 3

Authari, King of Lombards, iii, 2

Avicenna, viii, 9

Avignon, viii, 2

Azzo da Ferrara, Marquis, ii, 2

Babylon, Soldan of, x, 9

Bachi, mountains of the, vi, 10

Baffa, ii, 7

Bagnio, lady goes to, without distress, iii, 6

Balducci, Filippo, iv, Introd.

Barbanicchi, my lady of the, viii, 9

Barbary, iv, 4; v, 2

Barletta, ix, 10

Baronci, the, of S. M. Maggiore, vi, 6

"Baroncio a," vi, 5

Baroni, the, vi, 10

Bartolommea di Lotto Gualandi, ii, 10

Basano, King of Cappadocia, ii, 7

Basil, the pot of, iv, 5

Basques, viii, 3 Queen of, viii, 9

Baths, men and women use same water, ii, 2 women bathe on Saturday, ii, 10

Battledore, Lady, _alias_ Lackbrain, Featherbrain, Vanity, Slender-Wit. (See Lisetta da Ca' Quirino.)

Beatrice Madonna, wife of Egano de' Galluzzi, vii, 7

Belcolore Monna, viii, 2

Belfry-Breeches, vii, 8

Beminedab, Soldan of Babylon, ii, 7

Benedict, St., house of, iii, 4

Benevento, Battle of, ii, 6

Bengodi (see Berlinzone), viii, 3

Beritola Caracciola, ii, 9

Bergamina, viii, 9

Bergamino, a jester, i, 7

Berlinghieri Arriguccio, vii, 8

Berlinzone, viii, 3; viii, 9

Bernabò Lanellin, Genoese, merchant, ii, 9

Bernabuccio, v, 5

Bernard, St., lament of, vii, 1

Bertelle, youngest daughter of Narnald Cluada, iv, 3

Berto della Massa, iv, 2

Betto Brunelleschi, vi, 9

Biagio Pizzini, vi, 10

Bible quoted, iii, 7

Biliuzza, viii, 2

Binguccio dal Poggio, viii, 2

Biondello, ix, 8

Birds in Tuscany, vii, Introd.

Boccaccio's poverty, iv, Introd. defence of illicit love, iii, 7

Boccamazza Pietro, v, 3

Body-snatching in Naples, ii, 5

Bologna i, 10; iii, 8; vii, 7; viii, 9; x, 4; x, 10

Bologna, praise of ladies of, vii, 7

Brescia, iv, 6

Bridge of Greese, ix, 9

Brigantine, a, iv, 3

Brindisi, ii, 4

Bruges, ii, 3

Brunetta, vi, 4

Bruno, a painter, viii, 3; viii, 6; viii, 9; ix, 3; ix, 5

Buffalmacco, a painter, viii, 3; viii, 6; viii, 9; ix, 3; ix, 5

Buffia, the land of, vi, 10

Buglietto, viii, 2

Buonaccorri da Ginestreto, Ser, viii, 2

Buonconvento, ix, 4

Burgundians, wickedness of, i, 1

Cacavincigli, viii, 9

Calabria, v, 6

Calais, ii, 8

Calandrino, a painter, viii, 3; viii, 6; viii, 9; ix, 3; ix, 5

Camaldoli, ix, 5

Camerata (under Fiesole), vii, 1; ix, 5

Campi, v, 9

Candia, iv, 3

Capsa (Tunis), iii, 10

Carapresa, v, 1

Carthage, iv, 4

Casolan apple, iii, 4

Cassandra, v, 1

Castel Guglielmo, ii, 2

Castello da Mare di Stabia, x, 6

Catalina Madonna, x, 4

Catella, iii, 6

Caterina di Lizio, v, 4

Cathay, x, 3

Cavalcanti Guido, iv, Introd.; vi, 9

Cecco, son of Angiulieri, ix, 4

Cecco, son of Fortarrigo, ix, 4

Cephalonia, island of, ii, 4

Cerchi, Vieri de, ix, 8

Certaldo, vi, 10

Charles, King, the victorious, x, 6

Chastity, Neifile on, viii, 1

Chattilon, Sieur de, vi, 10

Chremes, x, 8

Chess, iii, 10

Chiassi (near Ravenna), v, 8

Chichibio, a cook, vi, 4

Chios, ii, 7

Ciacco, the glutton, ix, 8

Ciapperello da Prato, i, 1

Cicale, v, 4; v, 10

Ciesca, niece of Fresco da Celatico, vi, 8

Cimon. (See Galesus.)

Cino da Pistoia, iv, Introd.

Cipseus, father of Iphigenia, v, 1

Cisti, the baker, vi, 2

Ciuriaci, chamberlain to the Prince of Morea, ii, 7

Ciuta, maid to Monica Piccarda, viii, 4

Civellari, Countess of, viii, 9

Clergy, corruption of, i, 6 and 7; iii, 7; viii, 2 and 4 gluttony of, i, 2 live by alms, iii, 4 simony of, i, 2

Cluny, Abbot of, i, 7; x, 2

Compline, iii, 4

Confession of the dying, i, 1

Constantine and Manuel, nephews of Emperor of Constantinople, ii, 7

Constantinople, iii, 7

Coppo di Borghese Domenichi, v, 9

Corfù, ii, 4

Corsairs, Genoese, v, 7

Corsignano, ix, 4

Corso Donati, ix, 8

Crete, iv, 3; v, 1; x, 9 Duke of, iv, 3

Crivello, v, 5

Crucifixion, punishment of, x, 8

Currado Gianfigliazzi, vi, 4 King of Sicily's lieutenant, v, 7 de' Malespini, ii, 6

Customs, old Florentine, vi, 9

Cypriotes, the, histories of, v, 1

Cyprus, i, 9; ii, 4; ii, 7; iii, 7; v, 1 merchants of, x, 9

Dante, iv, Introd.

Dead, return of, vii, 10

Dego della Ratta, vi, 3

_Decameron_, Boccaccio's defence of, iv, Introd. and Epilogue contemporary opinion of, iv, Introd. and Epilogue ladies of, Proem effect of Dioneo's most licentious tale on, iii, 3 Fiammetta's story, iii, 6 her gravity and severe manner, iii, 5 Filomena's cynical prayer, iii, 3

Dentistry, vii, 9

Dianora, Madonna, x, 5

Dining, water served for hands, i, 7

Dogana, viii, 10

Dominic, St., vii, 3

"Don Meta," viii, 9

Dreams, iv, 6

Egano de' Galluzzi, vii, 7

Egina, ii, 7

Egypt, x, 9

Elena, viii, 7

Encarch, a Catalan, ii, 9

England, ii, 3; ii, 8

England, Barons of, borrow from Lombards, ii, 3 daughter of King, disguised as abbot, ii, 3 fair ladies of, vii, 7 King of, ii, 3 Queen of, viii, 9

Epicureans, vi, 9

Epicurus, i, 6

Ercolano, v, 10

Ermellina, wife of Aldobrandino Palermini, iii, 7

Fableaux, French, iii, 10

Faenza, v, 5

Fano, v, 5

Fast Days, Friday and Saturday, wearying therefore, Proem, ii, 10

Faziuolo da Pontremoli, iii, 7

Federigo di Filippo Alberighi, v, 9

Federigo di Neri Perlgolotti, i, 7

Felice, Dom, iii, 4

Ferondo, iii, 8

Ferrara, viii, 10

Fiammetta, description of, iv, 10 her knowledge of the evils of Naples, ii, 5

Fiesole, viii, 4 pardoning at, vii, 1

Filippa, wife of Rinaldo de' Pugliesi, vi, 7

Filippello Fighinolfi, iii, 6

Filippo, son of Niccolò Comacchini, ix, 5

Filippo Argenti, ix, 8

Filippo Minutolo, Archbp. of Naples, ii, 5

Filippo Santodeccio _alias_ Tedaldo Elisei, _q.v._

Fineo of Armenia, v, 7

Fiordaliso, Madonna, ii, 5

Fire, death by, v, 6 penalty of murder, iv, 7

Fire-ship, use of, iv, 4

Flagellants (Battuti), iii, 4

Flanders, iv, 2

Florence, iii, 7; iii, 9; iv, 7; v, 9; vi, 2; vi, 3; vii, 6; viii, 7; ix, 8 account of, iii, 7 Fra Cipolla's journey in, vi, 10 Podestas of, from the Marche, viii, 5 rich in humanity, iii, 6 wiles abound in, iii, 3 Algarve, vi, 10 Baldacca, inn at, vi, 10 Borgo de' Greci, vi, 10 Corso degli Adimari, vi, 9 S. Croce, i, 6 S. Giovanni, viii, 3 tombs around, vi, 9 Loggia de' Cavicciuli, ix, 8 Macino, viii, 3 S. Maria Novella, Proem, viii, 9 S. Maria della Scala, viii, 9 S. Maria a Verzaia, viii, 5 Mercato Vecchio, ix, 3 Ognissanti, field of, viii, 9 Or San Michele, vi, 9 S. Pancrazio, iii, 4 quarter of, vii, 1 S. Paolo, iv, 7 Parione, vi, 10 Plague in, Proem Porta a S. Gallo, viii, 3 Porta S. Piero, vi, 3 S. Reparata, vi, 9 Ripoli, convent of the ladies of, viii, 9 Sardinia (a suburb), vi, 10 Via del Cocomero, viii, 9

Florentine customs, vi, 17. (See Palio and under Camerata.)

Florin, iii, 3

Forese da Rabatta, vi, 5

Forlimpopoli, viii, 9

Fortune in love, its results, iii, 7

Foulques, iv, 3

Fra Alberto da Imola. (See Berto della Massa.)

Fra Cipolla, vi, 10

Fra Nastagio, iii, 4

Fra Rinaldo, vii, 3; vii, 10

France (as opposed to Provence), iv, 9 blood royal of, vi, 8 fair ladies of, vii, 7 King of, iii, 9; vii, 7; x, 9 Queen of, viii, 9

Francesca de' Lazzari, ix, 1

S. Francis, iv, 2; vii, 3 Order of, iii, 4. (See also Puccio de' Rinieri for a Tertiary called Frate.)

Frederic, Emperor, v, 5; x, 9 Second, i, 7; ii, 5; ii, 6; v, 6

Fresco da Celatico, vi, 8

Friar of S. Anthony, vi, 10

Friars admitted freely to prisoners, iii, 7 attacks on, i, 1 and 2; iii, 3 and 10; iv, 2; vii, 7 character of, iii, 7 dirtiness of, iv, 2 executors of wills, iv, 2 hypocrisy of, iv, 2 immorality of, with nuns, iii, 7, and elsewhere meanness of, i, 6; i, 7 Minor, i, 6; viii, 9 old and new, iii, 7 power over women, iii, 7 rapacity of, iii, 3 tricks of, iv, 2 truth about. (See _Epilogue_.)

Friars, vanity of, iii, 7 wickedness of, iii, 7

Friuli, x, 5

Fulvia, x, 8

Fulvus, Titus Quintius, x, 8

Gabriel, St., Archangel, iv, 2 feathers of, vi, 10

Gabriotto, iv, 6

Gaeta, beauty of coast thence to Reggio, ii, 4

Galen, i, 6

Galeone, vi, 2

Galesus (or Cimon), v, 1

Gangrene, iv, 10

Garden, songs in, by torchlight, iii, 10 love scene in, iv, 7, _et passim_

Gautier, Count of Antwerp, ii, 8

Gemmata, ix, 10

Genoa, i, 5; i, 8; ii, 6; ii, 9; iii, 3; iv, 3; viii, 1 nobility of, i, 8

Genoese carracks, piracy by, ii, 4

Gentile Carisendi, x, 4

Gerard of Narbonne, iii, 9

Gerbino, grandson of Guglielmo, of Sicily, iv, 4

Geri Spina, vi, 1; vi, 2

German guards, ii, 1

Germans, disloyalty of, viii, 1

Gherardo di Bonsi, vi, 10

Ghibelline, some of the seven ladies were, x, 8

Ghino di Tacco, x, 2

Ghismonda, daughter of Tancred, Prince of Salerno, iv, 1 her defence of love, iv, 1

Ghita, Monna, vii, 4

Giacomina, v, 4

Giacomino da Pavia, v, 5

Gian di Procida, ii, 6

Giannello Sirignario, vii, 2

Gianni, v, 6

Gianni di Barolo, Dom, x, 10

Gianni Lotteringhi, master spinner, vii, 1

Gianni di Nello of Porta S. Piero, vii, 1

Giannole di Severino, v, 5

Giannucolo, father of Griselda, x, 10

Gigliuozzo Saullo, v, 3

Giliberto, x, 5

Gillette of Narbonne, iii, 9

Ginevra the Fair, x, 6

Giosefo, ix, 9

Giotto, vi, 5

Giovanna, v, 9

S. Giovanni, vi, 3

Giovanni del Bragoniera, vi, 10

Giovanni Gualberto, San, iii, 4

Girolamo di Leonardo Sighieri, iv, 8

Gisippus, x, 8

Giusfredi, ii, 6

Gostanza, v, 2 daughter of Guglielmo of Sicily, iv, 4

Granada, King of, iv, 4

Grassa the tripe woman, viii, 5

S. Gregory, his forty masses, iii, 3

Grignano, Niccolò da, ii, 6

Grimaldi, Ermino de', i, 8

Griselda, x, 10

Guasparrino d' Oria of Genoa, ii, 6

Guasparruolo da Saliceto, viii, 9

Guccio Imbrata, iv, 7; vi, 10

Guglielmo, King of Sicily, v, 7 II, King of Sicily, iv, 4 Borsiere, jester, i, 8 della Magna, x, 6 da Medicina, v, 5 and the Lady of Vergiù, iii, 10

Guidi, the Counts, vii, 8

Guido degli Anastagi, v, 8

Guidotto da Cremona, v, 5

Guillaume de Cabestaing, iv, 9

Guiscardo, iv, 1

Gulfardo, German mercenary, viii, 1

Hawking, vi, 4

Holy Land, vi, 10

Holy Sepulchre, iii, 7; vii, 7

Hormisdas, v, 1

Horse, buying a, iii, 5

Hugnes, iv, 3

Husband as confessor, vii, 5

Immorality, abbot's excuse for, iii, 8 Filomena's prayer, iii, 3 of the times, Epilogue, vi, 10

Imola, vi, 2

India, vi, 10

Inns, iii, 7

Inquisition, i, 6

"Intemerata," vii, 1

Iphigenia, v, 1

Ippocrasso, viii, 9

Ireland, ii, 8 life in, "a very sorry suffering sort of life," ii, 8 Stamford in, ii, 8

Irony of Boccaccio against the Church, i, 2, _et passim_

Isabella, vii, 6

Isabetta, ix, 2 wife of Puccio de' Rinieri, _q.v._

Ischia, v, 6

Isotta the Blonde, x, 6

Jacques Lamiens. (See Violante, daughter of Gautier.)

Jancofiore, viii, 10

Jasmine blossom, viii, 10

Jealousy, vii, 5

Jehannot de Chevigny, i, 11

Jerusalem, ix, 9 relics in, vi, 10

Jesters in Boccaccio's day, i, 8 their business of old, i, 8

Klarenza, ii, 7

Knight of the Bath, viii, 9

Lagina, iv, 7

Lamberto de' Lamberti, ii, 3

Lambertuccio, vii, 6

Lamentations of the Magdalen, a devotion, iii, 4

Lamporecchio, iii, 1

Landolfo di Procida, v, 6

Landolfo Ruffolo, ii, 4

Lapuccio, viii, 2

Laterina, viii, 9

Latin spoken by poor women, v, 2

Lauds, iii, 3

Laud-singers of S. Maria Novella, vii, 1

S. Laurence, vi, 10

Law, injustice of, to women, vi, 7

Lawyers, wickedness of, i, 1

Lazistan, v, 7; ix, 9

Lazzarino de' Guazzagliotri, vi, 7

Legnaia, viii, 9

Leonardo Sighieri, iv, 8

Leonetto, vii, 6

Lerici, ii, 6

Levant, the, iii, 8; v, 7

Licisca, a servant, Introd. to, vi, 10

Liello di Campo di Fiore, v, 3

Lipari Islands, ii, 6; v, 2 women of, sailors, v, 2

Lippo Iopo, painter, vi, 10

Lisa, x, 7

Lisabetta, iv, 5

Lisetta da Ca' Quirino, iv, 2

Lizio da Valbona, v, 4

Lo Scacciato, ii, 6

Lodovico _alias_ Anichino, vii, 7

"Lombard Dogs," i, 1

Lombards, i.e. Italian merchants, bankers, i, 1 in London, ii, 3 one marries daughter of King of England, ii, 3 usury of, ii, 3

Lombardy, ix, 2; x, 9

London, ii, 8; iii, 2

Lorenzo of Pisa, iv, 5

Lotto, second-hand dealer, viii, 2

Louis, son of Gautier, ii, 8

Love, cause of death, iv, 8 great humaniser, v, 1 lovers pleading, iii, 5 making, a strange, iii, 5 may not be held in partnership like money, ii, 7 to be loved, ix, 9

Lunigiana, i, 4; ii, 6; iii, 7

Lusca, vii, 9

Lydia, vii, 9

Lysimachus, v, 1

Madeleine, twin sister of Ninette, iv, 3

Maffeo da Palizza, x, 6

Magistrates, mistaken zeal of, xii, 7 trick against, viii, 5

Magra, the, ii, 6

Majorca, ii, 7

Malagevole, iv, 7

Malgherida de' Ghisolieri, i, 10

Manfred, ii, 6; x, 6

Mangione, ix, 5

Manico di Scopa, viii, 9

Mannuccio della Cuculla, vii, 1

Marato, brother of Pericone, ii, 7

Marches, viii, 5

Marchese, Florentine actor, ii, 1

Marcus Varro, x, 8

Maremma, iv, 2 "in the world and in ----," vi, 6

Margarita, ix, 7

Maria Bolgaro, v, 6

Mariabdela, King of Tunis, v, 2

Marriage, early age of, ii, 6; iv, 3 in bed, ii, 3 merchant's idea of a perfect, ii, 9 without a priest, v, 4

Marseilles, iv, 3

Martellino, Florentine actor, ii, 1

Martuccio Gomito, v, 2

Masetto, iii, 1

Masetto da Lamporecchio, iii, 10

Maso del Saggio, vi, 10; viii, 3

Matilda, Lady, her laud, vii, 1

Matteuzzo, viii, 5

Mattins, iii, 3; iii, 4; iii, 8

Melchisedec, i, 3

Melisso, ix, 9

Menzogna, land of, vi, 10

Merchants of Italy, ii, 6; and see Lombards hatred of, i, 2 think by marriage to have gentility, vii, 8

Messina, iv, 4; iv, 5; viii, 10

Meuccio di Tura, vii, 10

Michele Scalza, vi, 6

Mico da Siena, poet, x, 7

Milan, iii, 5; viii, 1; x, 9

"Milanese fashion" (to find a coarse moral in a tale), iii, 4

Minerva, v, 6

Minghino di Mingole, v, 5

Minuccio d' Arezzo, x, 7

Mita, Monna, vii, 10

Mitridanes, x, 3

Modena, x, 4

Monaco, ii, 10 pirates of, viii, 10

Monferrato, Marquis of, i, 5

Monks attacked, i, 4; iii, 4; iii, 8; ix, 10

Mont' Ughi, vi, 6

Monte Asinaio, iv, Introd.

Monte Morello, vi, 10; viii, 3

Monte Nero, ii, 10

Montesone, cross of, viii, 9

Montfort, Guy de, x, 6

Montisci, viii, 3

Morality, _passim_. (See ii, 9.) Boccaccio emphasises the base view of women. The whole story is told to this end, and the ladies themselves endorse this view. (See ii, 10.) in merchant class, ii, 9

Morea, ii, 7 Prince of, ii, 7

Mother-in-law's tirade, vii, 8

Mourning, Florentine fashion of, iv, 8

Mugnone, viii, 3; ix, 6

Murderers beheaded in place of crime, iii, 7

Musciatto, Franzesi, i, 1

Musical boxes in beds of lovers, viii, 10

Naldino, v, 2

Naples, ii, 5; iii, 6; iv, 5; v, 6; vii, 2; viii, 10 arrival in, on Sunday eve at vespers, ii, 5 Bagnio in, iii, 6

Naples, body-snatching in, ii, 5 Charles I of, ii, 6 Charles II of, ii, 5 dangers of evil quarters in, ii, 5 loveliest city in Italy, iii, 6 mistress tricked into love in, iii, 6 Ruga Catalina, ii, 5 summer pleasures of, iii, 6 tilting, jousting at, iii, 6 Via Avorio, vii, 2

Narnald Cluada, iv, 3

Narsia, viii, 9

Nastagio degli Onesti, v, 8

Nathan, x, 3

Neerbale, iii, 10

Negro da Ponte Carraro, iv, 6

Nello, painter, ix, 3; ix, 5

Neri Mannini, vi, 6

Niccola da Cignano, viii, 10

Niccola da S. Lepidio, viii, 5

Niccolò Comacchini, ix, 5

Niccolosa, ix, 5; ix, 6

Niccoluccio Caccianimico, x, 4

Nicostratus of Argos, vii, 9

Nightingales, v, 4; vi, Epilogue

Ninette, iv, 3

Noble birth, Boccaccio's admiration of, iii, 7

Nones, iii, 6; v, Introd., vi, 10

Nonmiblasmetesevoipiace, Father, Patriarch of Jerusalem, vi, 10

Nonna de' Pulci, vi, 3

Nornieca, viii, 9

Nuns attacked, iii, 1 and 7; ix, 2

Nuta, vi, 10

Nuto Buglietti, viii, 2

Nuto, a gardener, iii, 1

Octavianus Cæsar, x, 8

Octroi officers vexatious people, viii, 3

Old Man of the Mountain, iii, 8

Orange blossom, viii, 10

Oretta, Madonna, vi, 1

Orsini, v, 3

Osbech, king of Turks, ii, 7

Paganino da Mare, a corsair, ii, 10

Palermini, Aldobrandino, iii, 7 Rinuccio, ix, 1

Palermo, ii, 5; iv, 4; v, 6; viii, 10; x, 7

Palio in Florence, the, vi, 3

Panago, the Counts of, x, 10

Paris, i, 1; i, 2; i, 7; ii, 8; ii, 9; iii, 9; iv, 8; vii, 7; viii, 7; viii, 9

Pasignano, the most holy god of, vii, 9

Pasimondas the Rhodian, v, 1

Pasquino, iv, 7

Paternoster, S. Julian's, ii, 2

Pavia, iii, 2; x, 9 S. Piero in Ciel d' Oro, x, 9

Penance, a curious, iii, 4

Peretola, vi, 4; viii, 9

Pericone da Visalgo, ii, 7

Peronella, vii, 2

Perrot, ii, 8

Persia, x, 4

Perugia, ii, 5; v, 10

Philippe le Borgne, i, 5

Pietro di Vinciolo, of Perugia, v, 10

Picardy, ii, 8

Piccarda, Monna, viii, 4

Piero di Fiorentino, vi, 6

Pietro. (See Teodoro.)

Pietro del Canigiano, viii, 10

Pineta of Ravenna, the, v, 8

Pinuccio, ix, 6

Piracy, ii, 10

Pirates, Italian, ii, 4

Pisa, ii, 10; viii, 10

Pisa, women of (ugly), ii, 10

Pistoia, iii, 5; ix, 1 church of Friars Minor, ix, 1

Podestà, power of, ii, 1

Poison, iv, 1; iv, 3

Ponza, island of, ii, 6

Pope, v, 7 Boniface, ii, 6; ii, 10

Porcellana, privileges of, vi, 10

Poverty no bar to _gentilesse_, iv, 1

Prato, vii, 7 S. Lucia di, viii, 7

Prester John, viii, 9

Priest, a body-snatcher, ii, 5 concerned in pig-stealing, viii, 6

Priests, Belcolore's verdict on, viii, 2 great pesterers of women, viii, 4 and village life, viii, 2 wrongers of husbands, viii, 2

Primasso the grammarian, i, 7

Procida, v, 6

Provençals = Troubadours, iv, 9

Provence, iv, 3

"Psalter, the" = a nun's veil, ix, 2

Publius, Quintis Fulvus, x, 8

Puccini, Bernardo, x, 7

Puccino. (See Stramba.)

Puccio, Fra. (See Puccio de' Rinieri.)

Puccio de' Rinieri, iii, 4

Purgatory, iii, 8

Pyrrhus, vii, 9

Quintillian, vi, 10

Radicofani, x, 2

Ragnolo, Braghiello, iii, 8

Ravello, ii, 4

Ravenna, v, 8

Ravenna, every day a saint's day in, ii, 10 women of, easy lovers, v, 8

Reconstruction, crime of, iv, 7

Relics, vi, 10

Religious (friars), stupidity of, iii, 4 incapable of earning a livelihood, iii, 3 reasons for retirement from world, iii, 3 vanity of, iii, 3

Restagnon, iv, 3

Restituta, v, 6

Rhodes, ii, 7; iv, 3; v, i

Ribi, viii, 5

Ricciardo di Chinzica, judge of Pisa, ii, 10; iv, 10

Ricciardo de' Manardi da Bertinoro, v, 4

Ricciardo Minutolo of Naples, iii, 6

Ricciardo of Pistoia, called Zima, iii, 5

Rimini, vii, 5

Rinaldo d' Asti, ii, 2

Rinaldo de' Pugliesi, vi, 7

Rinieri, viii, 7

Robbery, highway, ii, 2

Romagna, v, 4; v, 8; ix, 6 cloth of, vi, 5

Rome, v, 3 bears and wolves near, v, 3 country around, state of, in Boccaccio's day, v, 3 deserted during papal exile, v, 3 faction in, v, 3

Romeo and Juliet. (See Sleeping potion.)

Rose water, viii, 10

Roses, white and red, iv, 6

Roussillon, Bertrand de, iii, 9

Roussillon, Guillaume de, iv, 9 Isnard de, iii, 9

Ruberto, King, vi, 3 lover of Sismonda, vii, 8

Ruggieri de' Figiovanni, x, 1

Ruggieri, son of Guglielmo of Sicily, iv, 4

Ruggieri da Jeroli, iv, 10

Ruggieri dell' Oria, v, 6

Rustico, iii, 10

Sage-bush, poisonous, iv, 7 (See Toad.)

Saint, scene at shrine of, ii, 1 how to become a, iii, 4

Saladin, i, 3; x, 9

Salerno, iv, 1; iv, 10 basil of, iv, 5 beauty of, ii, 4 fair of, viii, 10

Saluzzo, x, 10 Marquis Gualtieri of, x, 10

Salvestra, iv, 8

San Gallo, near Florence, pardoning at, iv, 7 Lucifer of, viii, 9

San Gimignano, iv, 5

Sandro Agolanti, ii, 1

Santa Fiora, Counts of, x, 2

Saracens, iv, 4 ships of the, v, 2

Sardinia, ii, 7; iii, 8; iv, 4

Saturday is holy after One, i, 1

Scala, Cane della, i, 7

Scalea in Calabria, v, 6

Scannadio, ix, 1

Scarabone Buttafuoco, house of (a dangerous brothel), ii, 5

Scholars a match for the devil, viii, 7 rash for woman to try conclusions with, viii, 7

Scotland, King of, ii, 3

Scott, Michael, viii, 9

Seneca, vi, 10

Settignano, viii, 3

Sicilian vespers, ii, 6

Sicily, iv, 4; v, 2; v, 7; x, 9 French in, x, 7

Sicofante and his wife, vi, Introd.

Siena, vii, 3; vii, 8; ix, 4; x, 2 S. Ambrose of, vii, 3 Camollia di, viii, 8 Campo Reggi, vii, 10 Porta Salaia, vii, 10

Sienese, simplicity of the, vii, 10

Simona, iv, 7

Simone, a doctor, ix, 3 da Villa, viii, 9

Sinigaglia, unhealthiness of, in summer, viii, 3

Sismonda, Monna, vii, 8

Sleeping potion used by abbot, iii, 8

Smyrna, ii, 7

Sodomy, i, 1; v, 10 of clergy, i, 2

Soldan, consort of, viii, 9

Solomon, vi, 10; ix, 9

Sophronia, x, 8

Spain, iv, 3; x, 1. (See also Basques.) Alfonso of, x, 1

Spina, daughter of Currado de' Malaspina, ii, 8

Spinelloccio Tanena, viii, 8

Spinning, iv, 7

Spitting in church, i, 1

Squacchera, viii, 9

Stadic, the (chief of police in Naples), iv, 10

Stake erected in Piazza at Palermo, v, 6

Stecchi, an actor, ii, 1

Stramba _alias_ Puccino, iv, 7

Strappado, the, ii, 1; iii, 2

Sunday observance, i, 1

Supper in garden, iii, 10

Susa, v, 2

Talano di Molese, ix, 7

Tamignano della Porta, viii, 9

Tancred, Prince of Salerno, iv, 1

"Te lucis ante terminum," vii, 1

Tedaldo Elisei, iii, 7

Tedaldo de' Lamberti, ii, 3

Teodoro, v, 7

Tessa, Monna, wife of Gianni Lotteringhi, vii, 1 wife of Caladrino, viii, 3; viii, 6; viii, 9; ix, 3; ix, 5

Thebaid desert, iii, 10

Theodelinde, wife of Agilulf, King of Lombardy, iii, 2

Tierce, Proem; iv, 10; v, 3; v, 6; v, 7; viii, 8

Tilt and joust in honour of mistresses, iii, 5; iii, 6

Tingoccio Mini, vii, 10

Toad poisonous, iv, 7

Tofano, vii, 4

Torello d' Istria da Pavia, x, 9

Torrenieri, ix, 4

Torture, ii, 3; ii, 9; iv, 10; v, 7. (See also Strappado.)

Trani, ii, 4

Trapani, v, 2; v, 7

Travelling in fourteenth century (from England to Rome), ii, 3

Traversari, Paolo, v, 8

Trecca, viii, 5

Tresanti, Pietro da, ix, 10

Treviso, ii, 1

Trial of bread and cheese, viii, 6

_Troilus and Cressida_, vi, Introd.

Trudaro, vi, Introd.

Truffia, land of, vi, 10

Tunis, iv, 4; v, 2 King of, iv, 4

Uberti, Neri degli, x, 6

Udine, x, 5

Ughi, S. Maria, vi, 2

Usimbalda, Abbess, ix, 2

Ustica island, iv, 4

Usury, i, 1 reviled by the people, i, 1

Val d' Arno, viii, 7

Val d' Elsa, vi, 10

Valle delle Donne, vi, 10, Epilogue

Varlungo, near Florence, viii, 2

Venetians all unstable, iv, 2

Venial sins quit by holy water, iii, 4

Venice, vi, 10 common sink of abomination, iv, 2 Grand Canal, iv, 2 Piazza di S. Marco, iv, 2 Rialto, iv, 2

"Verdiana Santa," v, 10

Vergellesi, Francesco dei, iii, 5

Vespers, iii, 4; v, 2; v, 3; x, 7 and a surgical operation, iv, 10

Villa Cuba, v, 6

Villeggiatura, v, 9

Violante, v, 7 daughter of Gautier, ii, 8

Wales, ii, 8

Washing hands before dining, ii, 2

Wax images as votive offerings, vii, 3

Were-wolf, ix, 7

Whipping of women servants, vi, Introd.

Wine, Greek, ii, 8 Vernaccia, ii, 10

Wit, vi, 3

Wives, partnership in, viii, 9

Women, an old woman's advice to, v, 10 attack on, vii, 7 Boccaccio dedicated to them from boyhood, iv, Introd. Boccaccio's defence of a love of, iv, Introd. cause of Boccaccio's verses, iv, Introd. excuses for taking lovers, iii, 5 frailty of, ix, 9 honour intact until they sell their love, viii, 1 injustice of law to, vi, 7 obedience to their husbands, iii, 6 occupations of, iii, Prelim. sleep naked, ii, 9

Wool trade, iv, 7

Zeppa di Mino, viii, 8

Zima. (See Riccardo of Pistoia.)

Zinevra, ii, 9

Zita Carapresa, ix, 10

INDEX

Abrotonia, 22, 23, 138, 320

Abruzzi, the, 117

Absalom, 88

Acciaiuoli, family of the, 101

Acciaiuoli, Andrea, 237 note, 242 note

Acciaiuoli, Angelo, 222 note

Acciaiuoli, Niccolò, 5 note, 122 note, 148, 156, 224 Boccaccio's letters to, 24 note, 59 note, 61 friendship with Boccaccio, 57, 150 note probable invitation to Boccaccio, 108, 113, 203 note schemes for Louis of Taranto, 116-18

Accoramboni, Paolo, 217 note

Achilles, 75

Acquasparta, Cardinal of, xv

Acquettino da Prato, Giovanni, 8

Acrimonia, 85, 86

_Acta Sanctorum_, 198 note

Adam, 224, 243

Adimari, Antonio, 104

Adiona, 85, 86

Æneas, 57, 202, 274

Affrico, 11, 12, 93, 304

Afron, 86

Agamemnon, 81

Agapes, 85, 86

Agnes de Perigord, 44

Aimeric, Cardinal, 113, 114

Albanzani, Donato degli, 227 note

Alberighi, Federigo degli, 307

Alberigo, Frate, 261 note

Albert of Hapsburg, xiv, xix

Albertazzi, 296 note

Alberti, the, 57

Alberto da Imola, Fra, 309

Albizzi, the, 104

Albornoz, Cardinal, 164, 167, 208, 217

Aldobrandini, the, 104

Alexander IV, 309

Alexander the Great, 89

Alexandria, 66, 94

Alexis, 122, 215 note

Allegri, Francesco, 213

Alleiram, 34

Altomonte, Count of, 110

Altoviti, Guglielmo, 102, 104

Alunno, Niccolò, 25 note

Amalfi, _La Regina Giovanna nella tradizione_, 115 note

Amaryllis, 164 note

Amazons, the, 79

Ambrosio, Matteo d', 222 note

_Ameto_, 179, 183 note autobiographical nature of, 6, 7, 9 note, 10, 11, 13, 61, 86, 87 beauty of women in, 22 note Boccaccino, 97 note date of, 62, 70 note dedication of, 194 note description of the, 84-7 Fiammetta in, 29 note, 30, 32 note, 36, 52, 85, 323 note journey to Naples, 15, 16, 320 Lia, 22 note publication of, 87

Amicolo, Franceschino da Brossano, 213-16, 219 note

_Amorosa Visione_, 25 note, 26 note, 62 date of, 96 dedication of, 87, 132 note, 348, 349 description of, 88 Fiammetta in, 29 note, 30, 35, 37, 41, 43 note Lucia, 22 note

Anchises, 155, 272

Andalò di Negro, 323

Andrew, King of Hungary, marriage of, 108 note, 109-11 administration of, 112-14 murder of, 114, 121, 124

Andronicus, 191

Anselmi, _Nuovi documenti_, 4 note

Antellesi, the, 101

Anubis, 237-40

Apaten, 86

Apiros, 86

Apollo, 229, 239

Apuleius, 48, 58, 84, 88, 316

Aquila, 15

Aquino, Conte d', 9 note, 30, 31

Aquino, Maria d'. _See_ Fiammetta

_Arabian Nights_, 292, 296

Aragon, 16

Arcadia, 155

_Arch. di Stato Firenze Mercanzia_, 4 note, 5 note

_Arch. Stor. Ital._, 151 note, 163 note, 209 note, 218 note

_Arch. St. per le prov. nap._, 31 note, 109 note

Arcite, 80-3

Aretino, Domenico, on Boccaccio's birth, 8, 9 note

Arezzo, xiv, 151, 153, 156, 157

Argo, 121, 122

Ariosto, Ludovico, 94 note

Aristotle, 234

Arno, the, xx, 10, 94 note, 126

Arnolfo di Cambio, xiii

Arquà, 282 note, 285

_Ars Amandi_, 12 note, 25, 33

Arthur, King, 26

Artois, Charles d', 110

Ascalione, 69

Ascham, Roger, 312

Astrology, Boccaccio's belief in, 235

Athens, 79 Duke of, 101, 244 note

Atlas, 64, 94

Avernus, lake of, 53

Aversa, 113-15, 117, 150 note

Avignon, 60, 114, 151, 164, 167, 171, 218, 219 Boccaccio in, 165-7, 170, 209, 211, 212 ceded to the Holy See, 118 Petrarch in, 190 popes in, xviii, xix, 15 note, 152 note Robert the Wise crowned in, 17, 31 siege of, 217

Azzo da Correggio, 60

Baal, 88

Babylon, Sultan of, 66

Baddeley, _King Robert the Wise_, 109 note, 113-15 notes

Bagno, 53

Baia, Fiammetta at, 39, 40, 47, 49, 53-5, 67, 92, 134, 136, 138, 139, 141, 303 note

Baldelli, on Boccaccio in Romagna, 119, 120 on Boccaccio's embassies, 149-51 on Boccaccio's letters, 222 note on Boccaccio's master, 24 note on Boccaccio's meeting with Fiammetta, 323 on Boccaccio's metres, 94 on Pilatus, 203 note on the _Vita di Dante_, 120 note, 183 note The _Rime_, 132 note, 133 _Vita di Boccaccio_, 7 note, _et passim_

Baldi, Piero de', 100, 103

Baluzius, _Vitæ Paparum_, 115 note

Balzo, Ugo del, 116, 117

Bandino, 132

Barbi, ed. _Vita Nuova_, 254 note

Bardi, the, 104 Franceschino de', 128

Barlaam, 190, 191, 195

Baroncelli, Gherardo, 98 note

Barrili, Giovanni, 48

Bartoli, _I precursi del Boccaccio_, 70 note, 304 note

Bartolo del Bruno, Niccola di, 87

Bartolommeo da Siena, 198 note, 307

Bassi, P. A., 84

Beatrice, Dante's. _See_ Dante

Beatrice di Dante, 120, 148, 259, 268

Beauveau, Louis de, 78

Bechino, 248 note

Belcolore, Monna, 306, 309

Bella, Giano della, xiv

Bellona, 86

Benedict XI, xviii, 109

Benevento, xiii, xiv

Benn, A. W., 304 note

Benvenuto da Imola, 104 note, 144, 220 note, 269, 277, 282 note, 321

Bergamo, xx

Brescia, xx, xxi, 264

Berlin, Hamilton MS. in, 171 note, 311

Berlinghieri, Arriguccio, 307

Bernardino da Polenta, 119 note, 151

Bernicole, in _Giornale Dantesco_, 120 note

Bertinoro, 150 note

Bertolotto, _Il Trattato dell' Astrolabio_, 26 note

Betussi, G., 132 note, 270 note _Genealogia_, 321 note

Baumgarten, 208

Biagi, G., _La Rassettatura del Decamerone_, 310 note _La vita privata dei Fiorentini_, 126 note

Biagi and Pesserini, _Codice Diplomatico Dantesco_, 120 note

_Bianchi_, the, quarrel with the _Neri_, xiii-xvi support Henry VII, xix

Biancofiore, letters to Florio, 25 story of, 63-9

Biscioni, 257 note

Bisdomini, Cerrettieri, 106, 107

Black Death in Italy, 125, 147, 171, 292

Boccaccino, humble origin of, 4 in Florence, 4, 10 position in Paris, 5-10 sells Corbignano, 11, 325-34 relations with his son, 13 in Naples, 20-2, 321 displeased with his son, 45 ruined, 57, 59 note, 88 marriage of, 87 second marriage of, 62 note, 98, 127 home of, 97 death of, 128, 130, 145 will of, 145

Boccaccio, Francesco di, 13, 14, 59 note, 319

Boccaccio, Giovanni, humanity of, xi, xii, 304 compared with Dante and Petrarch, xi, 144, 222, 224, 305 numerous works of, xi. (_See separate headings_) their autobiographical character, xii, 6, _et passim_ declines the title of poet, xii, 94, 144, 228 bibliography of, 3 note signatures of, 3 note epitaph of, 3 note, 291 will of, 3 note, 289, 350-4 birth of, xxi, 3-9, 43 note parentage of, 3, 6-10 childhood of, 10-12, 320 studies of, 12, _et passim_ English, 355-62 dislike of commercial life, 12-14, 19 sent to Naples, 14-16, 19 note, 319-21 first years there, 18-20 friendship with Calmeta, 20-2, 323 presented at Court, 21 studies Canon Law, 22, 24, 44, 321-4 his early loves, 22 dreams of Fiammetta, 23, 30 reads the classics, 25, 62 reads Dante, 25, 253 reads the French romances, 26 meets Fiammetta, 27-30, 33 note, 71 note, 321-4 his love for Fiammetta, 27-53, 130-2, 135, 136, 174, 197, 198 note period of uncertainty in love, 35-43, 140 period of courtship, 36, 44-50 period of _possesso completo_, 35-40, 51-3, 140 betrayed by Fiammetta, 39, 40, 53-6, 141, 180 reads Petrarch, 45 writes _Rime_, 46, 47, 56 abandons the law, 47, 48 his literary studies, 48, 58 change of fortune, 56 leaves Naples, 59-61 his life in Florence, 61, 62, 96-9 his early works, 62-96 returns to Naples, 95, 99, 107-9, 113, 119 on Walter, Duke of Athens, 101, 106 on Robert the Wise, 110 note relations with Queen Giovanna, 117 note in Romagna, 117, 119, 259 meets King Louis of Hungary, 124 translates Livy, 119 note during the plague, 126-9 returns to Florence, 128, 130, 145 appointed guardian to his brother, 128, 130, 145 his songs, 132-44 embassy to Ravenna, 146, 148-52 embassy to Forlì, 150

Boccaccio first meets Petrarch, 153, 155, 190, 225 offers him a chair at the Florentine University, 157-60, 225 reproaches Petrarch with lack of patriotism, 160-1, 164 note, 192, 208 becomes Camarlingo, 162 at work on the _Decameron_, 162, 170-2 embassy to Ludwig of Brandenburg, 162 embassy to Avignon, 165-7 opinion of Charles IV, 167 his changed attitude to women, 172, 176-89 his children, 173 note, 214-16 his anthology of Cicero and Varro, 190 visits Petrarch in Milan, 192, 193, 226 studies Greek under Pilatus, 193-206, 209 his spiritual troubles, 197-203 offered post of Apostolic Secretary, 201, 227 visits Petrarch in Venice, 203, 204, 207, 226 embassy to Avignon, 209-12 stays in Genoa, 210 does not go to Pavia, 210, 226 in Certaldo, 1366, 212 visits Venice again, 212-16, 226, 282 embassy to the Pope, 1365, 216, 218 visits Naples, 219-22 his indignation with Montefalcone, 220 returns to Certaldo, 1371, 222 his Latin works, 223 his creative work, 224, 267 as Petrarch's disciple, 224-48 his _Elogium_ on Petrarch, 228 appointed to expound the _Divine Comedy_, 249-53, 269, 279, 281 as a student of Dante, 253-7, 267 his _Vita di Dante_, 257-69 returns to Certaldo, 270, 281 his _Comento sopra Dante_, 270-8 his illness, 280 his letter on Petrarch's death, 282-8 his collection of relics, 289 his death, 290

Boccaccio as the greatest of story-tellers, 291-316 English works on, 355-9 and Dante, works on, 359 Chaucer and Shakespeare, works on, 360-6

Boccaccio, Jacopo di, 98, 99, 128, 130, 145, 270

Boghton-under-Blee, 296

_Boll. di Soc. Dant. Ital._, 252 note

Bologna, 123 Dante in, 263, 264 Visconti take possession of, 147, 148, 151, 152, 164

Bolsena, 156

Boniface VIII establishes the _Neri_ in Florence, xiv-xvi death of, xviii

Bordini, the, 104

Bostichi, Bice de', 98

Brescia, xx, xxi, 264

Brienne, Count of, 101

Brossano, Francesco da, 45 note, 153 note, 282

Bruna di Ciango, 289 note

Bruni, Francesco, 209 note, 210

Bruni, Leonardo, 258 note

Brutus, 88

_Bucolics_, 247

Buonaccorsi, the, 101

Buonamichi, Francesco di Lapo, 289 note

Buonconvento, xxi

Buonmattei, 183 note

Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, 316

Cabannis, Roberto de, 113, 116

Cabannis, Sancia de, 113, 116

Cabassoles, Philip de, 110, 112

Calandrino, 306

Calchas, 71, 73

Caleone, 6, 86, 87

Calmeta, friendship with Boccaccio, 20, 48, 58, 323

Calò, _Filippo Villani_, 8 note

Camarlinghi, the, 162, 216

Campaldino, xiv

Canestrini in _Arch. St. It._, 165 note, 218 note

_Canzoni_, Dante's, 272

Cappelletti, _Osserv. e notiz. sulle fonti del Dec._, 304 note

Capua, 15, 50, 57

Cara, 69

Carbonara, 112 note

Carducci, Giuseppe, 9, 93 note on the _Ninfale_, 93 on the _Vita di Dante_, 184 note

_Carme_, 254, 256, 263 note

Carthage, 63, 89

Casa di Boccaccio, 11, 325-34

Casentino, the, xx, xxi, 107, 257 note, 264

Casetti, _Il Boccaccio a Napoli_, 14 note, 31 note, 32 in _Nuova Antologia_, 323 note on Fiammetta, 42

Cassandra, 74

Castalia, 229

Castel Capuano, 116

Castellamare, 114

Castel Nuovo, 116

Castello dell' Ovo, 117

Castor and Pollux, 81

Castracani, Castruccio, 100

Castracaro, 150 note

Catherine de Courteney, 44

Cato, 88

Cavaillon, Bishop of, 110

Cavalcanti, Maghinardo de', xiii, 279, 281 note

Cavicciulli, the, 104, 106

Cecco da Meleto, 123

Cerchi, the, 104

Certaldo, Boccaccio in, xi, 3, 7, 8, 10, 195 note, 212, 222, 270, 281, 284, 288 S. Jacopo, 289 note, 290

Chalcidius, 272 note

Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, xviii, 16 enters Florence, xvi genealogical table of, 111 note

Charles IV, 163-8

Charles of Apulia, 88

Charles, Duke of Calabria, 18, 21, 44, 100-2, 109-10, 148

Charles, Duke of Durazzo, 39 note, 110-17

Charlemagne, 88

Charles Martel, death of, 16 son of Giovanna, 115-18

Charles of Valois, xv, xix

Chaucer, Geoffrey, and Boccaccio, English works on, 360-2 foreign works on, 362-4 debt to Boccaccio, 224, 257, 305, 311-13 in Italy, 313 note _Canterbury Tales_, 84, 296, 313 _Treatise on the Astrolabe_, 322 _Troilus and Criseyde_, 73 note, 76 note, 78

Chellino, Boccaccio di. _See_ Boccaccino

_Chiose sopra Dante_, 270 note

Churchyard, Thomas, _Praise of Poets_, 312

Ciampi, _Monumenti_, 150 note

Ciani, Gioacchino, 198, 203 note

Ciappelletto, Ser, 309

Cibele, 86

Ciccarelli, Lorenzo, 277 note

Cicero, 88, 154, 159, 190, 226, 234, 288

Cimbri, the, 241

Cini, Bettone, 103

Cino da Pistoja, 24, 25, 253

Cipolla, Fra, 202, 297 note, 306, 309

Cisti, 306

Città di Castello, 15 note

Claricio, Girolamo, 90

Claudian, 88

Claudius, 230

Clement IV, 262 note

Clement V, flies to Avignon, xviii crowns Robert the Wise, 17, 31 supports Robert the Wise, 110 supports Andrew of Hungary, 112-18

Clement VI, 157 death of, 164

Cleopatra, 18, 88, 136, 241

Clerc, _Discours_, 68 note

Clonico, 69

_Cobler of Caunterburie_, 314

Cochin, H., _Boccaccio_, 24 note _Études Italiennes_, 280 note _Un Amico del Petrarca_, 192 note

Colonna, Cardinal, 17

Colonne, Guido delle, 77

Columbini, Giovanni, 198 note

_Comento sopra Dante_, 12, 127 note, 136, 201 note, 202 note, 225 note, 234 note, 268 note, 269 note, 270-8 children in, 215 summary of, 270-8

Comneno, Alessio, 26 note

_Compendio_, 257 note, 269. _See Vita di Dante_

Conrad, Duke of Teck, 163

Constance, Empress, 236

Constantinople, 191, 204

Convenevole da Prato, 110

_Convito_, 254 note, 267, 272

Coote, H. C., 313 note

Corazzini, _Lettere di Boccaccio_, 9 note, _et passim_ on the _Egloghe_, 120 note

_Corbaccio_, 19, 190, 197 attitude to women, 134, 138 note, 237 date of, 170 influence of Dante in, 254 story of, 182 title of, 181

Corbignano, sale of, 11, 325-34

Coriolanus, 241

Cornelia, 88

Corneto, 217

Corradino, 88

Costanza, 241

Cotier, Gabriel, 95

Council of Trent, 310 note

Creighton, _History of the Papacy_, 152 note

Cremona, xx

Creon, 80

Crescimbeni, 94 note

Crescini, _Contributo agli Studi sul Boccaccio_, 4 note, _et passim_ _Due Studi_, 22 note _Idalagos_, 6 note _lucia non Lucia_, 22 note on Boccaccino, 99 on Boccaccio's birth, 9 and note on Calmeta, 20 on Fiammetta, 35, 36, 38, 323 note on the _Rime_, 137, 143 on the _Teseide_, 83 on the two bears, 14 note on the _Visione_, 89 note

Criseyde, 71-7

Criti, 210

Crowe and Cavalcaselle, ed. Hutton, 18 note

Cugnoni, Prof., 133

Cuma, 67

Curia, the, 309

Cyprus, 26 note, 185

D' Ancona e Bocci, _Manuale della Lett. Ital._, 321 note

Dafni, 210

Danäe, 239

D' Annunzio, Gabriele, 297

Dante Alighieri, xi, xiii, 16, 88, 151, 175, 179, 222, 224, 289 note daughter of. _See_ Beatrice di Dante birth of, xiii one of the _Bianchi_, xiv in exile, xvi, xx, 253, 257 note his dream of the empire, xvii letters of, xx death in Ravenna, 120 his Beatrice, 135, 136, 142-4, 186, 198, 263, 265, 307 influence on Boccaccio, 25, 77 life of, by Boccaccio, 120. _See Vita di Dante_ Boccaccio's sonnet to, 142, 254 Boccaccio expounds, 249-53 and Boccaccio, English works on, 359 _De Monarchia._ _See infra_ _Divine Comedy._ _See intra_ _Rime_, 267

Dante, Jacopo di, 268

Daphne, 210, 215 note, 229

"Dares Phrygius," 77

Dati, Goro di Stazio, _Storia di Firenze_, 104 note

Davidsohn, _Forschungen zur Geschichte von Florenz_, 4 note, 21 note _Il Padre di Boccaccio_, 4 note, 21 note

De Blasiis, _Cino da Pistoia_, 24 note, 25 note _De Casibus_, 21 note _La Dimora di Boccaccio in Napoli_, 14 note, _et passim_ Le _Case de' Angioni_, 44 note

_Decameron_, 31, 33 note, 63, 105 note, 127 note, 190, 224, 240 as a source of inspiration, 311 attitude to women in, 174-9 Black Death in, 125, 128, 292 Church's treatment of, 310 clergy in, 202, 306, 308 compared with the _Divine Comedy_, xi, 309 contrasted with _Corbaccio_, 172 date of, 162, 170-2, 181, 183 note Dogana, 19 note Fiammetta, 174 foreshadowed in _Filocolo_, 69, 70 friars in, 309 human comedy, the, xi humanism of, 305 impersonal character of, xi, 291 known in England, 311-16 La Valle delle Donne, 302 MSS. of, 171 note, 311 palaces of, 298-302 Petrarch on, 311 plan of, 296 Proem, 172 note, 173, 174, 292-6 prose style of, 310 protagonists of, 297, 305, 306 sources of, 304 title of, 292 note Tuscan setting of, 11 synopsis of and works on, 367-93 index to, 394-406

_De Casibus Virorum Illustrium_, 5 note, 6 note, 21 note, 101 note, 108, 124, 201 note, 223, 234 note, 243-4, 275, 313 note

_De Claris Mulieribus_, 224, 275 story of, 236-43 attitude to women in, 240-2

_De Genealogiis Deorum_, 119, 194, 201, 220, 224, 230, 235, 245-7, 272 notes, 275, 321 Andalò di Negro, 26 note autobiographical nature of, 12 note, 24, 45 note material of, 245-7 on commercial pursuits, 13, 19, 21 note, 22 note

Deiphobus, 75

Dejob, _A propos du Décaméron_, 305 note

Della Torre, _La Giovinezza di Boccaccio_, 8 note, _et passim_ _St. della Accademia_, 53 note on Boccaccio's journey to Naples, 15, 57, 59 note, 60 note, 319 on Calmeta, 20 on Fiammetta, 31, 36, 38, 42

_De Monarchia_, 267 claims of the Empire, xvii

_De Montibus_, 4 note, 223, 228 note, 235, 245, 248, 275

De Nohlac, _Les Scholies_, 194 note, 203 note _Pétrarque et son jardin_, 192 note _Pétrarque sur Homère_, 191 note, 206 note

De Sade, 158

Desjardins, _Négotiations Diplomatiques_, 5 note

_De Vulgari Eloquentia_, 267

Diana, 86, 93

"Dictys Cretensis," 77

Dido, 57, 240

Diomede, 74, 75

Dioneo, 86, 295, 297, 302

Dionisi, 257 note

_Divine Comedy_, xi, 87, 90, 183 note, 226, 291 compared with the _Decameron_, 309 expounded by Boccaccio, 136, 249-53, 257, 266, 269. _See Comento sopra Dante_ Petrarch on, 227 note _Inferno_, 254 note, 267, 269, 270, 273, 312, 324 note _Paradiso_, 13 note, 104 note, 143 note, 253 note, 268, 271, 319 note _Purgatorio_, 253 note, 258 note, 271

Dobelli, _Il culto del Boccaccio per Dante_, 26 note, 46 note, 253 note

Doccia, La, 304

Donati, Amerigo, 106

Donati, Corso, xv, xvi, 104, 106

Donati, Gemma, 184

Donati, Manno, 104

Donato de' Martoli, Gian, 7, 214

Doni, forged letter by, 24 note

Dryden, John, 311, 315

Duff Gordon, Lina, _Home Life in Italy_, 50 note

Duguesclin, Bertrand du, 217

Duraforte, Astorgio di, 123, 148

Edward III of England, 57 note

_Egloghe_, 19 note, 167, 235 evidence of the, 120-2, 124 Boccaccio's children in, 214 note

Egon, 164 note

Eletta, Petrarch's granddaughter, 88, 214-16

Elisa, 174, 294, 297

_Elogium di Petrarca_, 228, 231 note

Elsa, the, 290

Elyot, Sir Thomas, _Boke of the Governors_, 315 note

Emilia, 79-82, 85, 86, 174, 294

Esmondson, Godfrey, 245 note

Eucomos, 6

Euganean Hills, 227 note, 285

Euripides, 204

Eusebius, _De Temporibus_, 195

Eve, 224, 236, 243

Faenza, 150 note

Faggiuola, Uguccione della, 264, 267 note

Faraglia, _Barbato di Sulmona_, 21 note, 48 note

Fauno, 120-2

Felice, King of Spain, 64, 65

Feramonte, 69

Ferrara, 84, 164

Ferrara, Marquis of, 218

Ferretus Vicentinus, 120 note

Fiammetta, bastard daughter of Robert the Wise, Boccaccio's love for, 6, 9 note, _et passim_ prevision of, 16 note, 23, 30, 320 Boccaccio's meeting with, 19 note, 27-30, 33 note, 321-4 descriptions of, 28, 29, 46, 47 birth of, 30-2 in the care of nuns, 32, 42 marriage of, 33 her voluptuous nature, 33, 34 accepts Boccaccio's suit, 35-40, 48-53 betrays Boccaccio, 54, 180, 242 death of, 127-30, 279 Boccaccio's poems to, 137 in the _Ameto_, 85 in the _Amorosa Visione_, 87-9 in the _Decameron_, 294

_Fiammetta_, the, 10, 31 note, 32 note, 47 note, 224 Boccaccino in, 14 note criticism of, 92 date of, 62, 74 note, 90, 96 Florence, described in, 96 note, 108 meeting of Boccaccio and F., 28 note, 29 note Naples, described in, 18, 44, 45 on marriage, 34 note Panfilo, in, 59 note publication of, 93 sources of, 93 story of, 51-5, 91, 98 strategy of love, 49 note, 50

Fiesole, 11, 12, 84, 94, 299, 304, 309

Filippa la Catanese, 108 note, 113, 114, 116, 244, 306

Filippo, Patriarch of Jerusalem, 211

_Filocolo_, 51 note, 52 note, 55, 56, 138 note, 179 Abrotonia, 22 autobiographical nature of, 6, 7, 9 note, 10, 12, 13, 23, 67, 78, 319 Calmeta, 20 criticism of, 68 Dante, 25 note date of, 62 Fiammetta, 28-33 notes, 37 note, 38 note, 43 note, 66, 322 Florio, 54 note, 63-9 germ of the _Decameron_, xii influence of Dante in, 253 Naples, 19 narrative of, 63-8 on the _Ars Amandi_, 25 origin of name, 66 note publication of, 70 _Questioni d' Amore_, 66, 69, 70 source of, 68 two bears, 10 note, 14, 319 note written at Fiammetta's bidding, 42, 43, 63

Filomena, 174, 294, 296

Filostrato, 174, 295, 297

_Filostrato_, The, 70-8, 313 criticism of, 76, 77 date of, 47, 62, 70 note, 78 dedication of, 70, 78 Fiammetta, 28 note, 29 note influence of Dante in, 253, 26 note narrative of, 71-7 publication of, 78 secret vice, 34 note song by Cino, 25 note sources of, 77

Fiorentino, Anonimo, 277

_Floire et Blanceflor_, 68 note

Florence, allied with King Robert against Henry VII, xix-xxi, 17 allied with Siena and Perugia, 15 note appeals to the Pope, 152, 163 appeals to Ludwig of Brandenburg, 163; and Charles IV, 163 appoints Boccaccio to expound Dante, 249-53, 267, 269 at Hawkwood's mercy, 208 Bishop of, xv Boccaccino in, 4, 10 Boccaccio in, 25 note, 59, 60 note, 96-107, 150 Boccaccio's birth claimed for, 8, 9 Casa di Boccaccio, 57 note employs Boccaccio as ambassador, 146-52, 157, 165, 209-12, 218 Henry VII's attack on, xxi, 17 Leon Pilatus in, 193 makes terms with the Visconti, 164, 165 Mercato Vecchio, 105 _Neri_ established in, xiv-xvi offers Petrarch a chair in the university, 157-60 Or San Michele, 120 note, 146, 148, 151 Petrarch in, 153-7, 225 Piazza di S. Croce, 102 Piazza della Signoria, 102 plague in, 125, 147, 293 political condition of, 1341-5, 96, 100-7; 1352-9, 165-9 prosperity of, xiii _Rettori_, 103 Robert the Wise in, 17, 31 S. Ambrogio, 62, 99, 107 S. Felicità, 97, 99, 107 S. Maria del Fiore, 106 S. Maria Novella, xvi, 294 S. Stefano ad portam ferram, 252 note S. Stefano della Badia, 252, 269 Signori, 102, 103 threatened by Milan, 147-8, 151-3, 162 trades with France, 5 university of, 157, 193

Florio, story of, 25, 42, 63-9

Foligno, 123

_Forest of Fancy_, 314

Forlì, 122 note, 127, 149, 150 note, 164 note, 171

Foscolo, _Disc. Storico, sul testo del D._, 172 note, 184 note, 257 note, 310 note on the _Vita di Dante_, 184 note

Fracassetti, _Lettere di Petrarca_, 119 note, 123 note, 203 note

France, papacy under influence of, xviii

Franceschino da Brossano, 45 note, 153 note, 282

Francesco da Buti, 277

Fra Roberto, 112

Fratticelli, The, 278

Frederic II, 236 death of, xiii

Frederic III of Sicily, 221, 267 note

Frescobaldi, Bardo, 100, 103, 104

Galen, 88

Galeone, 66, 67, 69

Galeone, Gianello, 307

Galletti, _Philippi Villani, Liber_, 8 note

Gamba, _Serie dei Testi di Lingua_, 251 note, 257 note

Gambatesa, Carlo di, 113

Gannai, 7

Gardner, E. G., _S. Catherine of Siena_, 217 note

Gaspary, A., 108 note _Filocolo oder Filocopo_, 63 note

Gebhart, _Prologue du Décaméron_, 296 note

Gelli, 277

Gemma, 259 note, 263, 264

Genoa, 17, 26 note, 44, 147, 148 Boccaccio in, 210, 211

_Georgics_, 247

Gerace, Bishop of, 191

Germany, feudal union with Italy, xix

Gerola, _Alcuni documenti_, 252 note

Gharamita, 6

Gherardi, Ruberto, _La Villeggiatura di Maiano_, 97 note, 335-47

Ghibellines, the, xiv, 11 support Henry VII, xix

Giardino, Pier, 268

Gigli, _Il Disegno del Decamerone_, 91 note _I sonetti Baiani del Boccaccio_, 24 note

Ginguené, 9

Giotto, xiii, 289 note in Naples, 18 tower of, 100

Giovanna, Queen of Naples, 218, 221 marriage of, 109-11 influence of, 112 suspected of her husband's murder, 115, 122, 124 second marriage of, 116-18 sells Prato, 148 and the _Decameron_, 171 in _De Claris Mulieribus_, 224, 236, 242

Giovanni of Florence, 109

Giovenale (Juvenal), 183 note

Giulia Tropazia, 63, 64, 88

Giulio di Boccaccio, 215 note

Glorizia, 64

_Gonfaloniere_, the, xiv

Gonzaga, 167

Goth, Bertrand de, xviii

Graf, _Fu Superstizioso il Boccaccio_, 198 note

_Grandi_, the, in power, xiv

Grantham, H., 70 note

Graziosa, 69

Greene, Robert, _Perimedes the Blacksmith_, 314 note

Gregory XI, 221

Grillo, Giovanni, 25 note

Griselda, 33 note, 297 note, 306, 307, 311

Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, 308

Gualdrada, 236

Gubbio, 217 note

Guelfs, the, xiv, xxi, 152, 163 triumph at Benevento, xiii Robert the Wise, 16

Guercin du Crest, Anton, 95

Guglielmo da Ravenna, 214

Guido da Polenta, 119 note, 150

Guinevere, 38 note, 42, 89

Hager, _Programmata III_, 289 note

Hamilton MS., 171 note

Hannibal, 88

Harrington, Sir John, _Apology of Poetry_, 312

Harvey, Gabriel, 312

Hauvette, H., _Ballades du Décaméron_, 297 note _Il MS. Berlinese_, 171 note _Le Professeur de Grec de Boccace_, 194 note on the _Corbaccio_, 181 note _Recherches sur le Casibus_, 224 note, 243 note _Une Confession de Boccace_, 22 note, 108 note, 323 note

Havemann, _Geschichte des ausgangs des Tempelherrenordens_, 5 note

Haviland, John, 245 note

Hawkwood, Sir John, 208

Hecate, 52 note

Hecker, _Boccaccio Funde_, 12 note, 48 note, 108 note

Hector, 73, 233

Hecuba, 88

Helicon, 229, 285

Henry VII, 5, 31, 163, 264 crowned in Rome, xx, 17 death of, xiii, xxi election of, xix his attack on Florence, xxi opposed by Robert the Wise, 17

Henry VIII of England, 243 note

_Heroides_, 25

Herrick, Robert, 133

Heywood, William, _Ensamples of Fra Filippo_, 126 note on Perugia in 1323, 15 note _Palio and Ponte_, 104 note

_History of Trytone and Gesyppus_, 315 note

Hollway-Calthrop, Mr., _Petrarch_, 112 note, 201 note

Homer, 81, 88, 231, 233, 276, 285 translation of, 191, 195, 196, 203, 205, 226

Horace, 88, 257 note, 262, 288 _Epistolæ_, 156

Hortis, 9, 108 note, 125 note, 149 note _Acceni alle Scienze_, 53 note, 223 note, 235 note, 245 note _Boccaccio Ambasciatore_, 159 note, 162 note, 165 note, 209 note, 210 note, 212 note, 217 note _Le Donne famose_, 224 note, 242 note on the _Eclogues_, 122 note, 123 note _Studi sulle Opere Latine di Boccaccio_, 25 note, 220-3, 236, 241, _et passim_

_Hundred Merry Tales_, 296, 315 note

Hutton, Edward, 315 note _Country Walks about Florence_, 12 note, 299 note, 300 note, 303 note _See_ Crowe and Cavalcaselle

_Hystoria Troiana_, 77

Ibrida, 6, 86, 97 note

Idalagos, 6, 14, 67, 319 learns astronomy, 20

Ilario, 67

_Il Cortigiano_, 34 note

_Il Falso Boccaccio_, 270

_Iliad_, 77, 191, 205, 276

_Ilias Latina_, 191

Il Sangro, 15

Imola, 90

_Inferno._ _See Divine Comedy_

Innocent IV, 309

Innocent VI, policy of, 164-8

Ippolyta, 79

Isabella, 307

Isernia, 15

Iseult, 89

Italy, federation of, 161

Jacopo, Domenico di, 145 note

Jaggard, Isaac, 315

Jason, 88

Jean d'Anjou, 44

Jeanne, mother of Boccaccio, 9, 87, 97

Jerusalem, King of, 16

Joan, Pope, 236

Juliet, 33 note

Katzensteiner, Diapoldo, 163

Keats, John, 311

Knights Templars, 5, 6

Koch, Dr., 313 note

Koeppel, _Studien_, 314 note

Koerting, _Boccaccio's Leben_, 9 note, 257, 323, _et passim_ on the _Rime_, 138 note

Kuhns, _Dante and the English Poets_, 312 note

Lælius, 155

La Fontaine, 311

Lagonessa, Giovanni di, 116

Lagonessa, Rostaino di, 116

Lana, Jacopo della, 269

Lancelot, 38 note, 42, 89

Landau, _Vita di Boccaccio_, 9, 60 note, 81, 138, 149 note, 155 note, 165 note, 170 note, 184 note, 323 _Die Quellen des Dekam._, 304 note

Landino, 277

Lando, Giovanni di, 25 note

Landor, W. S., 304

Lapo da Castiglionchio, 156

Laura, Petrarch's, 135, 142-4, 193

Laurentian library, 226 note, 254 note

Lauretta, 294

La Valle delle Donne, 302, 303

Lello di Pietro Stefano, 207

Leonetto, 307

_Leucippe and Clectophon_, 94 note

Lia, 22 note, 84, 86, 89, 98 note

_Libro delle Provvisioni_, 249, 251 note

Licisca, 297 note

Lionel, Duke of Clarence, 219

Lipari Islands, 101

Livy, Boccaccio translates, 88, 119 note

Lodovico, 307

Lo Parco, _Petrarca e Barlaam_, 190 note

Louis of Bavaria, 100

Louis of Durazzo, 117

Louis of Hungary, invades Italy, 121-5, 150 note invades Naples, 117, 118

Louis of Taranto, 113, 116-18, 124

Lownes, M., 315

Lucan, 276

Lucca, 44, 84, 257 note pays tribute to Robert the Wise, 17 sold to Pisa, 100, 101, 103

Lucia, 22 note

Ludwig of Brandenburg, 162

Lucrece, 18, 51 note

Lunigiana, 264

Lybia, 185

Lycia, 155

Lydgate, John, _The Falle of Princes_, 101 note, 106 note, 244 note

Lydia, 307

Lyons, 95

Machiavelli, Niccolò, _Lettere_, 186 note on Walter, Duke of Athens, 101, 104, 107

Macon, Antoine Le, 315

Macri Leone, ed. _Vita di Dante_, 184 note, 257 note, 263 note, 269 note

Magliabecchiana library, 277

Malatesta, Pandolfo, 208

Malatesta, Sigismondo, 123

Malespina, Moruello, 264, 267 note

Mancini, the, 104

Mancini, _Poggio Gherardo_, 299 note

Manetti, 132 note

Manfredi, the, 150 note

Manicardi e Massera, _Introduzione al Canzoniere_, 46 note, 48 note, 133 note, 134, 136 note, 139, 143

Mannelli, Francesco, 171 note, 311

Manni, 145 note, 217 note _Istoria del Decameron_, 10 note, 170 note, 128 note, 222 note, 251 note, 270 note, 304 note on Boccaccio's birth, 8

Mantua, 164, 167

Mare Morto, 67

Margherita di Gian Donato, Boccaccino marries, 7, 9 note, 10, 11 note, 13, 59, 299

Maria, Duchess of Durazzo, 110

Marie de Valois, 44

Mario di Boccaccio, 215 note

Marmorina, 64, 65

Mars, 65, 81

Martial, 88

Martini, Simone, his portrait of Robert the Wise, 18

Martino da Signa, Fra, 120, 125, 270

Martoli, Donato de', 7

Mary of Hungary, 111 note

Marzano, Goffredo, 110

Massalino, 69

Massamutino, 65

Massera, _Le più antiche biografie del Boccaccio_, 8 note, 12 note

Matteo da Signa, 214 note

Mazalotti, the, 104

Mazzinghi, _Brief Notice of Recent Researches_, 263 note

Mazzuchelli, 132 note _Gli Scrittori d' Italia_, 217 note, 270 note

Mazzuoli, Zanobi, 12

Mazzuoli da Strada, Giovanni di Domenico, 12

Medea, 88

Medici, the, 104, 106 Giovanni de', 102

Mehus, Abate, _Ambrosii_, 149 note

Melezino, Niccolò di, 116

Meldola, 150 note

Menedon, Longanio, 69

Mensola, 11, 12, 93

Méril, Edélestand du, 68 note

_Metamorphoses_, 25, 48

Michele, Dietifeci di, 167

Midas, 87

Milan, 90, 147 Petrarch in, 188, 192, 196, 219, 226 power of, 147, 148, 151-3

Milanesi, Gaetano, 278 _Il Comento di Boccaccio_, 249 note, 251 note, 252 note, 271 note, 277 note

Mini, G., _Il Libro d' Oro_, 4 note

Minos, 81

Miseno, 67, 139

Molay, Jacques de, 6

Molière, 311

Monaldi, Guido, _Diario_, 252 note

Monte Cassino, 220 note

Monte Ceceri, 94 note

Montefalcone, Niccolò di, 219-21

Monte Falerno, 58, 59

Monteforte, Pietro di, 203 note, 222

Monte Miseno, 49

Montferrat, Marquis of, 208

Montorio, 64

Montorio, Duke of, 69

Monza, 168

Moore, Dr. E., _Dante_, 257 note, 268 note

Mopsa, 85, 86

Morandi, _Antol. della Critic. Mod._, 224 note

Morcone, Contessa di, 113

Morelli, Giovanni, on the plague, 126

Morini, _Il prologo del Decameron_, 296 note

Morley, Lord, 243 note

Morrozzo, Matteo di, 103

Moschus, 87

Mugnone, the, 94, 302

Mundo, 237-40

Mussafia, _Il Libro XV_, 224 note, 248 note

Mussi, Luigi, 257 note, 269 note

_Nachgeahunt_ of Whetstone, 315 note

Naples, xxi, 289 Angevins in, xix Boccaccio in, 11 note, 13, 16-18, 150, 219, 220, 222 note, 321 court of, 18, 21, 26, 44 invaded, 147 King of. _See_ Charles of Anjou and Robert the Wise political condition in 1344, 108-18 S. Chiara, 109 S. Lorenzo Maggiore, 18 note, 27, 30, 42, 71 note

Narcissus, 81, 215 note

Nationality, spirit of, xvii, xviii

Negro, Andalò del, 20, 26 _Tabula_, 36

Neifile, 174, 294, 299

Nelli, Francesco, 156, 164 note, 193 note, 203 note, 207

_Neri_, the quarrel with the _Bianchi_, xiii-xvi

Nero, 233

Nestor, 81

Niccolò di Vegna, 11

Nicoletti, 132 note

_Ninfale Fiesolano_, countryside in, 11 criticism of, 94 date of, 62, 93, 96 publication of, 95 sources of, 94 story of, 93, 94

Niobe, 89

Nisus, 155

_Notable History of Nastagio and Traversi_, 314 note

Novati, _Giornale St. d. Lett. It._, 226 note

Novello da Polenta, Guido, 265

_Odyssey_, 191, 205, 276

Olympia, 214 note

Orcus, 81

Ordelaffi, Francesco degli, 120-5, 128, 149-51, 171

Orlandini, Baldo, 5 note

_Orlando Furioso_, 312

Orsini, Niccolò degli, 221 note, 222 note, 225 note

Orsini of Sovana, Count, 117

Ostasio da Polenta, 117, 119, 149, 150

Ovid, 33, 87, 246, 257 note, 262, 289 _Amoris Remedia_, 182 Boccaccio's love of, 25, 45, 48 _Heroides_, 93 _Metamorphoses_, 12 note, 94

Oxford, Dante in, 263 note

Paccio, 109

Paccone, Biagio, 25 note

Padua, 93, 153, 164, 167 Boccaccio in, 219, 226 Dante in, 263 note, 264 Petrarch in, 157-60, 191, 193, 195, 219, 225, 285, 313 note

Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, 314, 315 note

Palemon, 80-3, 120

Palio, the, 104

Pallas Athene, 86

Pamfilo, 91, 98, 120, 295, 297

Pampinea, 22, 23, 138, 174, 294, 296, 320

Pan, 164 note

Pandarus, 71, 73, 76

Paolina, 237-40, 241, 243

Paolo da Perugia, 48

Paolo il Geometra, 248 note

Papacy, fall of the, xiii, xviii the medieval idea of, xvi the, removes to Avignon, xviii

Papia, _Elementarium_, 320 note

"Pargoletta," 257 note

Paris, 24 note Boccaccino in, 5 Boccaccio's birth in, xxi, 3, 6, 7 Dante in, 258 note, 263, 264, 266 Homer translation in, 206, 276

Paris of Troy, 81, 88

Parker, Henry, Lord Morley, 243 note

Parma, 100, 153

Parmenione, 69

Parnassus, 229

Partenope, 66

Paur, 257 note

Pavia, Petrarch in, 210, 212, 226

Payne, Mr. John, 316

Pazzi, the, 104

Peleus, 81

Pelli, _Memorie_, 120 note, 257 note

Penelope, 57, 206

Pepoli, the, 152

Percopò, _I bagni di Pozzuoli_, 53 note

Perini, Dino, 269

Peritoo, 79, 80

Perseus, 239

Perugia, 15, 24 note, 148, 151, 152, 163 note, 164

Peruzzi dal Parlagio, the, 17, 57 note, 101

Peter of Aragon, 217

Petrarch, xi, xiii, 175, 179, 222 birth of, xvi, 4 note reports Boccaccio's birth in 1313, 6, 7, 10 note on Robert the Wise, 17, 110, 111 Boccaccio reads, 45 Boccaccio's friendship with, 45, 59, 146, 150, 155, 156, 190, 223-35 visits Naples, 60, 109, 111, 112, 154 on Naples, 112 letters to and from Boccaccio, 119, 120 note, 153 note, 155, 156, 159, 188, 194, 199-201, 204, 205, 207, 210, 212-16 his Laura, 135, 136, 142-4, 153, 158 Boccaccio's sonnet to, 136, 143 first meeting with Boccaccio, 152, 155, 190, 225, 287 in Rome, 153 note, 156 character and position of, 154 offered a chair in Florence, 157-60 his studies in Greek, 190, 206 in Padua, 219, 313 note Boccaccio's master in classical attainments, 223, 224, 232-5, 242, 247 Boccaccio's opinion of, 225-32, 246, 247 will of, 227, 231, 287 note on the _Decameron_, 227 on the _Divine Comedy_, 254-6 his hatred of the vulgar tongue, 255 note illness of, 280 note death of, 282 known in England, 312 _Africa_, 159, 228, 231, 287 _De Remediis_, 243 _De Viris Illustribus_, 236, 243 _Egloga_, 110 note, 122 note _Epistol. Fam._, 190, 205, 225, 231, 233, 255 notes _Epistol. Sen._, 194, 203, 205, 207, 210, 225, 227, 233 notes _Epistol. Varie_, 196 note _Italia Mia_, 167 _Trionfi_, 90, 288

Petroni, Pietro, 198, 201, 202, 226, 232, 233

Pheneus, 155

Philip IV of France, xv, 5 asserts the rights of the State against the Papacy, xviii supports Henry VII, xix

Philip of Taranto, 44

Phœnix of Poets, 228

Piero, Gabriele di, 70

Pilatus, Leon, relations with Petrarch, 191-3 in Florence with Boccaccio, 193-8, 203-5, 276 translation of Homer, 206

Pinelli, _Corbaccio_, 183 note _La moralità nel Decam._, 305 note

Pisa, xxi, 100, 125, 157, 168 plague in, 147 indemnity to Florence, 208

Pisani, the, xiii

Pistoia, 17, 148, 151

Pizzinghe, Jacopo, 221 note, 222 note, 229 note

Plato, 191, 196, 226 _Timæus_, 272

Plautus, 246

_Pleasant and Sweet History of Patient Grissel_, 315 note

_Pleasant History of Galesus, Cymon_, 314 note

Po, the, 219

Poe, E. A., 132

Poggibonsi, xxi

Poggio, Andrea, 268

Poggio Gherardo, 12 note, 97 note, 299, 304, 335

Pola, 69

Polissena, 73

Poliziano, _Stanze_, 82 note

Pomona, 86

Pompeano, 55

Pompey, 89

Poppea, 241

Portinari, Folco, 263

Porto Ercole, 117

Posilipo, 58, 285

Pozzuoli, 67

Prato, 17, 151, 162 bought by Florence, 148, 150 note

Priam of Troy, 71

Proba, 241

Prometheus, 141

Provence, Count of, 16

Prunella, 307

Pruneo, 94

Psyche, 316

Pucci, Antonio, 138 note

Pygmalion, 81

Pynson, Richard, 101 note, 244 note

Pythias, 155

_Questioni d' Amore._ _See Filocolo_

Quintillian, _Institutions_, 156

Quinto Lelio Africano, 63

Raimondo di Catania, 113, 116

Rajna, Pio, _L' Episodio_, 53 note, 69 note _Le fonti_, 94 note, 292

Rambaldo di Vaqueiras, 68 note

Ravello, Lorenzo di, 25 note

Ravenna, Boccaccio in, 119, 120, 148, 149, 151, 159, 164 note, 259 Dante in, 158, 265

Renaissance, the, xii, 206, 227 note beginning of, xxi Boccaccio a pioneer of, 248

Renier, _Di una nuova opinione_, 131 note _La Vita Nuova e Fiammetta_, 22 note, 24 note, 63 note

Rhadamanthus, 81

Riccardiana library, 277

Rienzi, 128

Rieti, 15

Rigg J. M., 299 note, 300 note, 315 note, 316

_Right Pleasant Historie of the Mylner of Abingdon_, 315 note

_Rime_, 53 note, 54, 56, 179, 227 note accepted canon of, 133 analysed, 134, 136, 137 certainties of, 136 Fiammetta, 46, 47 influence of Dante in, 253 love poems of, 137-44 on Dante, 275 on death, 282 order of, 133

Rimini, 149, 150

Rinaldo, Fra, 309

Robert the Wise, King of Naples, 87, 121, 154, 242 opposes Henry VII, xix-xxi, 17 relations of Boccaccino with, 5 Fiammetta, the daughter of, 6, 9 note influence of, 16-18 coronation of, 17, 31 portrait of, 18 entertains Petrarch, 60 appealed to by Florence, 100 death of, 109 will of, 110

Roberto, Fra, 112

Roberti, Dionisio, da Borgo Sansepolcro, 24 note, 59

Rodoconachi, _Boccace_, 241 note, 245 note

Romagna, 117, 147, 149

_Roman de Thèbes_, 83

Roman Empire, xiii, xvii

Rome, 87, 171 Castel S. Angelo, xx Henry VII crowned in, xx, 17 Lateran, xx, 17, 67 papal exile from, xiii, xviii Petrarch in, 153 note, 156 S. Peter's, xx

Romeo, 22

Rosaline, 22

Ross, Mrs., 97 note, 335 _Florentine Villas_, 299 note

Rossellini, _Della casa di Boccaccio in Certaldo_, 288 note

Rossetti, D., _Petrarca, Celso e Boccaccio_, 158 note, 228 note, 247 note

Rossetti, D. G., translations of, 133 note, 138, 142, 275, 276

Rossetti, W. M., 313 note

Rossi, the, 104

Rossi, Pino de', 194, 209

Rucellai, Nardo, 102 the, 104, 106

Rufolo, Niccolò, 25 note

Rustichesi, Francesco, 102

Rustico, Fra, 309, 315 note

Sacchetti, Franco, 125, 144 _Novelle_, 313

Sachs, Hans, 311

Sadoc, 66

S. Agata, Count of, 110

Sainte-More, Benoît de, _Roman de Troie_, 77

Salimbeni, the, 218

Sallust, 88, 159

Salonica, 191

Salutati, Coluccio, 144, 282 note

Salvatico, Count, 264

Salvi di Dini, 11

Salviati, _Il Decamerone_, 170 note

Salvini on Boccaccio's birth, 8

Samnium, 70

Sancia, Queen, 110, 114

Sanesi, 145 note on Lia, 98 note

Sanguinetto, Filippo di, 110

S. Anne, feast of, 105

Sansovino, 132 note

S. Anthony of Padua, 153

S. Arcangelo a Baiano, 32, 42

Sarzana, 164

Saturn, 69, 88

S. Augustine, 246 _Commentary_, 190, 226 Confessions of, xii

Savi-Lopez, P., _Sulle fonti delle Teseide_, 83 note

S. Bartholomew's Day, xxi

S. Benedict, Order of, 32

Scala, Alberto della, 258 note, 264

Scala, Cane della, 167, 267 note, 273

Scala, Martino della, 100, 104

Scartazzini, 257 note

S. Catherine of Siena, 308

Scefi, Guglielmo da, 106, 107

Schaeffer-Boichorst, 257 note

S. Chiara, 18

Schuck, 245 note

Schulz, _Denkmäler_, 18 note

Scipio Africanus, 63

S. Clemente, Cardinal di, 115

Scott, F. N., _Boccaccio and Sidney_, 224 note, 247 note

Scythia, 79

S. Dominic, 309

Sempronia, 241

Seneca, 59 note, 230, 276 wife of, 240

Serravalle, Giovanni di, 263 note

Settignano, 11, 94 note, 299, 335

Settimo, Guido, 211

Seville, 64

Sevin, Adrien, 70

S. Felicità, 11

S. Francis, 202, 289 note, 309

S. Gregory, monastery of, 191

Shakespeare, William, xii, 224, 257, 292, 306, 311 and Boccaccio, works on, 365, 366 his "dark lady," 130 _Troilus and Cressida_, 75 note

Sichæus, 81

Sicily, King of, 16, 17 love in, 52 note

Sidney, Sir Philip, 224 note, 311, 312 his Stella, 130, 131 _Defense of Poesie_, 312

Siena, 15, 125, 127, 163 note, 164, 217, 218, 258 note opposes Henry VII, 17 allied with Florence, 151, 152 plague in, 147, 148

Sigeros, Nicolas, 191

Silvanus, 160, 164 note, 228, 284

Silvio, 214 note

Simonides, 164 note, 207

Sismonda, 307

S. Isidoro di Siviglia, _Origines_, 320 note

S. James of Compostella, 63, 69

S. Jerome, 184 note, 195, 246, 263 note

S. John Baptist's Day, 104

S. John of the Cross, 198

S. Lazarus, 202

S. Lorenzo dell' Arcivescovato di Capua, 57, 59

S. Louis of Toulouse, 18

S. Marco, Cardinal di, 115

S. Maria di S. Sepolchro dal Pogetto, 289 note

S. Maria Maggiore, 57 note

S. Mary's Day, 17

S. Michael, 202

Smyrna, 285

Società de' Bardi, 5, 21, 57 note

Socrates, 230

Sofonisba, 241

Solerti, _Le vite di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio_, 8 note

Solomon, 88

Solon, 261

Sophocles, 204 _Antigone_, 28 note

S. Paul, 198

Spenser, Edmund, 130, 312

S. Pier Maggiore, 11

Spoleto, siege of, 15

Squarciafico, Girolamo, 70, 132 note

Squillace, Count of, 110

S. Scholastica, 32

S. Severino, Count Ugo di, 221

S. Stefano, Certosa di, 219

Statius, 257 note, 262 _Thebais_, 59, 83

Stella, Sidney's, 130

S. Thomas Aquinas, his idea of the Papacy, xvi, xvii

Stilbone, 210

Strozzi, the, 104

Suares, 289 note

Sulmona, 15, 289 Barbato di, 111

Sulpicia, 241

S. Valentine, 153

Symonds, J. A., 315 note _Boccaccio_, xii note

Tacitus, 219, 220 note _Annals_, 276

Tanfani, _Niccolò Acciaiuoli_, 148 note, 150 note

Taranto, Catherine of, 111 note, 113, 115 Philip of, 117 Robert of, 113, 116

Tarlati, the, 15 note

Tarlton's _News out of Purgatorie_, 314

Tasso, 94 note

Tatius, Achilles, 94

Teano, 15

Teck, Duke of, 163

Tennyson, Lord, 311

Terence, 226 note, 246

Terlizzi, Count of, 116

_Teseide_, 62, 74 note, 76, 78, 313 criticism of, 82, 83 dedication of, 79, 83 narrative of, 79-82 publication of, 84 sources of, 83

Testili, 120-2

Teza, _La parola Decameron_, 292 note

Tezza, Monna, 306

_Thebais_, 59

Thebes, 80, 89

Theocritus, 87

Theophrastus, 263 note

Theseus, 79, 80

Thessaly, 194

Thomas, William, _Dictionarie_, 312

Thorold, Algar, _Dialogue of S. Catherine of Siena_, 308 note

Thrace, 81

Tiberius Cæsar, 237, 240

Tindaro, 297 note

Tiraboschi, 132 note _Storia della Lett. Ital._, 9 note, 22 note, 119 note, 158 note, 257 note

Tironea, 94

Tityrus, 122

Todeschini, _Opinione_, 203 note

Tommaso d' Alessandria, 95

Torre, Giovanni di, 25 note

Tosca, Giovanni della, 102

Tottel, 101 note

Toynbee, Paget, _Bibliography of Genealogia_, 224, 247, 248, 252 notes _Boccaccio's Commentary_, 220 note, 270 note, 271 note _Dante in English Literature_, 263 note, 312 note _Dante Studies and Researches_, 221 note _Life of Dante_, 268 note

Trapani, 147

_Trattatello in Lode di Dante_, 258 note

Traversari, Guido, _Bibliografia Boccaccesca_, 3 note _Il Beato Pietro Petroni_, 198 note

Traversi, Antona, 9, 155 note _Della patria di Boccaccio_, 6 note, 8 note _Della realtà dell' amore di Boccaccio_, 49 note, 131 note _La Lia dell' Ameto_, 22 note _Le prime amanti di Boccaccio_, 22 note on the _Rime_, 134, 138 on the _Vita di Dante_, 184 note

Trebizond, 26 note

_Trionfi_ of Boccaccio, 90

Trissino, 94 note

Tristram, 89

Troilus, 70-7

_Troilus and Criseyde_, 313 note

Tropea, Mambriccio di, 114

Tropea, Tommaso di, 114

Troy, 89

Tullia di Petrarca, 212-16, 219 note, 284

Tura, Agnola di, 147

Turbeville's _Tragical Tales_, 314 note

Tuscany, Boccaccio's childhood in, 10, 320 claims of Holy See on, xiv power of Florence in, xiii Vicar-General of, xv

Twyne, Thomas, _Schoolmaster_, 314 note

Tyrol, Count of, 162

Ubertino di Corigliano, 221

Ugo, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem, 224, 247

Ulysses, 57, 81, 205, 206

Urban IV, 262 note

Urban V, dissatisfaction with Florence, 208-12, 217 enters Rome, 217, 218 death of, 219, 221

Urbino, 264

Valdelsa, 4

Valla, Bruno, 95

Vanello, Francesco di, 145 note

Varlungo, 309

Varro, 190, 226

Vega, Lope de, 311

Velasquez, 292

Venafro, 15

Veneto, Luca, 78

Venice, 44, 70, 78, 84, 148, 269 alliance of 1353, 164 Boccaccio in, 203, 207, 209, 213, 226, 282, 283

Venus, 65, 81, 86, 92

Vernon, Lord, 270 note

Verona, 100, 153, 164, 167 Dante in, 258 note, 264, 266

Vesta, 86

Via Francigena, 15

Villa Ciliegio, 304 note

Villani, Filippo, _Le Vite d' uomini illustri Fiorentini_, 4 note, 7 note _Liber de Civitatis Florentiæ_, 236 note, 245 note on Boccaccino, 7, 8, 13 on Petrarch and Boccaccio, 155

Villani, Giovanni, _Cronica_, 17 note, 31 note, 101 note, 104 note, 122 note on Robert the Wise, 17, 109 note death of, 125-7

Villani, Matteo, _Cronica_, 125 note, 281 note on the plague, 125 on Boccaccio's love affairs, 132

Villa Palmieri, 300, 304

Villari, _First Two Centuries of Florentine History_, xv, 5 note

_Villeggiatura di Maiano, La_, 335-47

Villon Society, 316

Vincolo, Pietro di, 307

Vincent de Beauvais, 233

Vincent, I., 70

Vindelin da Spira, 269

Violante di Boccaccio, 214 note, 215

Virgil, Boccaccio's love of, 58, 87, 88, 154, 159, 202, 230, 257 note, 262, 285, 288, 312 _Æneid_, 67 note, 83, 94, 240, 247, 272

Visconti, the, 100, 160, 192, 208, 212, 217 take Bologna, 146, 147 treaty with Florence, 164

Visconti, Duke Galeazzo, 219

Visconti, Giovanni, 161

Visconti, Violante de', 219

_Vita di Dante_, 120 note, 170, 193 note, 234 note attitude to women in, 183-8, 189, 237 authority of, 260, 268 critical opinions on, 257-60 date of, 170, 183, 254, 259 summary of, 261-6 versions of, 257 note, 269

_Vita Nuova_, 16 note, 272 date of, 258 note Boccaccio on, 266, 267

Viterbo, 217, 218

Voigt, _Pétrarque, Boccace_, 232 note, 234 note, 245 note

Volpi, _Una Canzone di Cino da Pistoia_, 25 note

Volumnia, 241

Waldron's _Literary Museum_, 243 note

Wallis, William, 315 note

Walter, Duke of Athens and Count of Brienne, 101-7

Warner, William, _Albion's England_, 315 note

Wayland, John, 101 note

Weller, Mr., 240

_Westward for Smelts_, 314 note

Whibley, Charles, 315 note

Wicksteed, P. H., _Early Lives of Dante_, 185, 258 note, 269 note on the _Vita di Dante_, 258, 259

Witte, 9, 108 note, 117, 163 note, 222 note _Dekameron übersetz_, 323 note _Essays on Dante_, 257 note

Woodcocke, Thomas, 70 note

Young, B., 93

Zanobi da Strada, 108 note, 123, 168

Zardo, _Il Petrarca_, 219 note

Zenati, _Dante e Firenze_, 48 note

Zenobia, 241

Zilioli, 132 note

Zumbini, B., _Il Filocolo del Boccaccio_, 6 note, 68 note

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Superscripts are denoted by ^ eg xvj^o.

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Modern practice in Italian texts contracts (removes the space from) vowel elisions, for example l'anno not l' anno, ch'io not ch' io. This book, in common with some similar English books of the time, has a space in these elisions in the original text. This space has been retained in the etext. The only exceptions, in both the text and etext, are in French names and phrases, such as d'Aquino and d'Anjou.

Except for those changes noted below, misspelling by the author, and inconsistent or archaic usage, has been retained. For example, well known, well-known; Africo, Affrico.

p. xvii 'he granted' replaced by 'be granted'. p. xxiv 'TWO EMBASSIES TO' replaced by 'THE EMBASSIES TO'. p. 77 'Benôit' replaced by 'Benoît'. p. 116 'Castel Capuana' replaced by 'Castel Capuano'. p. 154 'More-ever,' replaced by 'Moreover,'. p. 194 'repellant' replaced by 'repellent'. p. 195 'Cesarea' replaced by 'Cæsarea'. p. 326 'Paoli pro partibus' replaced by 'Pauli pro partibus'. p. 336 'in ciu Affrico' replaced by 'in cui Affrico'. p. 337 'vie puì credibile' replaced by 'vie più credibile'. p. 339 'Mensola una della' replaced by 'Mensola una delle'. p. 340 'nuova si Mensola' replaced by 'nuova di Mensola'. p. 340 'ed i monto' replaced by 'ed i monti'. p. 340 'Mensola tradì là' replaced by 'Mensola tradì la'. p. 340, 342 'Girasone' replaced by 'Girafone'. p. 343 'avuti sa dua' replaced by 'avuti da sua'. p. 373 'Bernarbò' replaced by 'Bernabò'. p. 390 'Biondella' replaced by 'Biondello'. p. 392 'Torella' replaced by 'Torello'.

Footnote [116] (p. 32) 'Cassetti' replaced by 'Casetti'. Footnote [179] (p. 51) 'Rome toun' replaced by 'Rome town'. Footnote [306] (p. 97) 'chuise' replaced by 'chiuse'. Footnote [359] (p. 128) 'epecially' replaced by 'especially'. Footnote [393] (p. 148) 'Niccola' replaced by 'Niccolò'. Footnote [426] (p. 164) 'v.s.' replaced by 'u.s.'. Footnote [576] (p. 254) "Apollo' all, ultimo" replaced by "Apollo, all' ultimo". Footnote [576] (p. 254) 'diritti in lono' replaced by 'diritti in loro'. Footnote [660] (p. 300) 'sowewhat' replaced by 'somewhat'.

Index to Decameron: Aquamorta; entry moved to correct alphabetic order. Index to Decameron: Licisca; 'to vi, vi, 10' replaced by 'to, vi, 10'.

Index: 'Altovite' replaced by 'Altoviti'. Index: 'Bruni, Leonardi' replaced by 'Bruni, Leonardo'. Index: 'Cini, Bettoni' replaced by 'Cini, Bettone'. Index: 'D'Ancona e Bacci' replaced by 'D'Ancona e Bocci'. Index: Divine Comedy; '257, 257, 266,' replaced by '257, 266,'. Index: 'Eletta ... grandaughter' replaced by 'Eletta ... granddaughter'. Index: 'Floire et Blancefor' replaced by 'Floire et Blanceflor'. Index: 'Francesco da Buto' replaced by 'Francesco da Buti'. Index: 'Gigli ... sonnetti' replaced by 'Gigli ... sonetti'. Index: 'Libro delle Provvisione' replaced by '... Provvisioni'. Index: 'Lunigiano' replaced by 'Lunigiana'. Index: 'Massamutin' replaced by 'Massamutino'. Index: 'Mersalino' replaced by 'Massalino'. Index: 'Palma, 100' removed; '100' added to 'Parma' entry. Index: 'Scefi' retained, though text on p. 106 has 'Assisi'. Index: 'S. Isidoro di Seviglia' replaced by '... Siviglia'. Index: 'Squarcifico' replaced by 'Squarciafico'. Index: 'Tanfani, Niccolò Accaiuoli' replaced by '... Acciaiuoli'. Index: 'Tirona' replaced by 'Tironea'.