Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517-1586) A European Statesman in An Age of Conflicts (original) (raw)
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Guidobaldo II della Rovere in European Perspective
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In this paper, I intend to show that the interdisciplinary study of chronicles can tell us much not just about the texts themselves, but also about their possible purpose, intended audience, and reception. In order to do this, I use the chronicle written by the civic notary Giovanni Codagnello of Piacenza (d.1235) as case study. In particular, I focus on the annals and on some of the myths and fabulous histories there included, as these have not received much attention. Through a philological analysis of these myths, I argue that Codagnello consciously re-elaborated works by authors such as Isidore of Seville, Paul the Deacon, Dares Phrygius, and others, fitting them to his own purpose: to convince his fellow citizens that the civil war which broke out in his city in the 1220s and 30s was not only disruptive, but also went against a tradition of civic unity and alliance with the city of Milan which originated in times unmemorable. Indeed, a consequence of the civil war was the interruption of the century-long alliance with ‘anti-imperial’ Milan and the passage to the enemy front, led by the ‘pro-imperial’ Cremona, a former arch-enemy of Piacenza. Thus, together with re-assessing these myths (which with few exceptions, have been largely overlooked or misunderstood by historians of communal-age literature and history) and placing them within a precise historical context, I argue that in communal-age Italy chronicles and fabulous histories could have a high political importance. Indeed, through the analysis of contemporary literature, archival documents, and meta-textual mentions to orality present in the chronicle, I argue that historical texts such as these could be read in civic assemblies – the core of political life in contemporary communes – or anyway incorporated into political orations, thus playing an important role when it came to take decisions of political nature. Finally, I analyse the manuscript itself, arguing that this was commissioned by the civic government of Piacenza in around 1250, and that therefore, even after the death of its author, this chronicle was intended to continue to serve important public political functions.