A chivalric romance about Attila, troubadour poems and ars amandi in the codex of Joannes de Scepus, Bishop of Zagreb (c. 1361–1410)

Abstract

According to a 13th-century chivalric romance written in Padua in a mixed French- Venetian language, Attila, King of Hungary – said to be born from the union of a princess and a dog – invaded Italy with the intent to destroy Christianity. However, after burning several towns, he was killed at the end of a chess game in Rimini. This story, transmitted in numerous variants, shaped the image of Attila in northern Italy for centuries. The works written in French or in a language that mixes elements of French and Veneto dialects were once dismissed as corrupt imitations of French literature. Today, however, they are recognized as a distinct corpus of northern Italian chivalric literature and have become an important subject of study. The codex preserving the earliest version of this Attila romance also includes other examples of French-Venetian chivalric literature, such as a collection of troubadour poems and an ars amandi. This codex was once owned by Joannes de Scepus (Joannes de Gara, János Szepesi), Bishop of Zagreb and later Archbishop of Naples. It is believed that other Hungarian intellectuals who studied in the Veneto region over the centuries were also familiar with this Attila tradition and the local literature, which was strongly influenced by French models. It would be worth examining the potential role of northern Italian chivalric culture as a mediator in spreading French chivalric traditions to Hungary.