Revista de Filología Románica (ISSN 0212-999X, ISSN-e 1988-2815) publishes historical-comparative research studies and, more specifically, any that may be of general interest to the field of Romance Languages. Preference is given to collaborations that use interdisciplinary approaches, such as the case of comparative literature, or research carried out from the social-linguistic, folkloric or ethnographic perspective.
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From tyrannus to martyr: the Gregorian interpretation of Hermenegildo
The purpose of this work is to analyze the treatment of the figure of Prince Hermenegildo within the Dialogi of Gregory the Great composed in Rome in 593. This literary source was a milestone that determined a radical change in the assessment of the character that went from being considered a rebel, a traitor to his father, to be praised as a martyr of Catholicism and the true architect of the conversion of the Visigoth people. Hence the importance of analyzing this episode with all its details in light of the compositional models of hagiography –genre to which the work is ascribed– and the historical context in which the life and literary activity of its author takes place, Pope Gregory the Great.
Copyright (c) 2024 Revista de Filología Románica
Lidia Becker, Gabriele Knauer y José Del Valle (eds.), (2022): La mirada glotopolítica, continuidad y renovación de la romanística / Le regard glottopolitique, continuité et renouveau de la romanistique. Berlin: Peter Lang, 318 pp. ISBN: 978-3-631-87846-0
«Et tot açò vehia l’emperador de son palau»: Muntaner and the arrival of the Almugavars at Constantinople (an analysis of chapter 202 of the Crònica)
This article analyses chapter 202 of Ramon Muntaner's Chronicle, devoted to the arrival of the Catalan Company at Constantinople in September 1303 and the bloody clash that shortly after broke out between Catalans and Genoese in the outskirts of the city. On the one hand, it examines Muntaner’s depiction of the events in the light of the version found in George Pachymeres’ History, thus adopting a comparative approach from which emerges the fact that the Catalan chronicler deliberately silences the most controversial aspects of these historical episodes. On the other hand, it identifies the main narrative devices upon which Muntaner relies to craft his account, which seem to be reminiscent of literary motifs present in the roman courtois tradition.
Copyright (c) 2020 Revista de Filología Románica
Sobre el origen del topónimo Priego (de Córdoba, de Cuenca)
El topónimo Priego tiene una gran importancia. A pesar de ello, no han sido muchas las propuestas en torno a su origen y hay, además, una cierta confusión en torno a ellas. Existen dos hipótesis para su explicación, pero ambas se enfrentan a inconvenientes de gran importancia que hacen aconsejable considerar una tercera posibilidad. Este trabajo muestra los inconvenientes citados y propone esta tercera hipótesis que explica el topónimo como derivado de lat. pĕtra. La hipótesis presenta la ventaja de no proponer ningún término no documentado, proponer una evolución fonética plausible y contar con muchos otros paralelos.
The letter, the thing, the key, the world machine
This essay proposes a dialogue between the poetry of Ruy Belo (Portugal, 1933-1978) and Carlos Drummond de Andrade (Brazil, 1902-1987), explaining how these works share techniques, stylistic elements and thematic groups, as well as common references, important in their creative processes, such as the works of Charles Chaplin and Charles Baudelaire. Through the analysis and confrontation of these poetic works, our intention is to understand how their individual perspectives on poetry intersect each other.
The "Descriptio puellae" in the Italian and Spanish Petrarchism: the examples of Giusto de’ Conti and Garcilaso de la Vega
Due to its aesthetic characteristics of perfection and harmony, but also of repetition and homologation, Renaissance love poetry has often been object of limited attention by the critics, who have briskly labelled it Petrarchism. The practice of the imitatio, nevertheless, is responsible for the birth of the European literature. In fact, it does not limit itself to being the typical feature of a certain culture, but it has also influenced the development of Western literature. Hence, it is necessary to delve into the Renaissance literature with studies which prove the presence of specific stylistic characteristics, useful to understand the structural and organizational principles behind poetry itself. This article investigates the practice of the descriptio puellae, agreeing with Muñiz Muñiz on the shortage of philological studies aimed at reconstructing the morphology of the topos. The comparison is developed through the analysis of significant texts from Italian and Spanish classicism, highlighting similarities and differences of both movements in relation to the reception of Petrarca’s legacy.
Memories of Alonso Zamora, a Philologist
This article presents a panorama of some of Alonso Zamora Vicente's facets as a philologist, an article writer, a critic, and a linguist. It finishes with an evocation of his figure during the time he spent at the University of Santiago de Compostela.
Printing Heuristics in the Carolingian Romances
From a heuristic implicit in the nascent business of the Spanish printing press, where the market was growing through discontinuous paths and different scores, printed publishing products were the result of commercial flows between the urban and suburban public and the courtly public. Although it has been found that several loose sheets of other subgenres of the Romancero reached commercial success since before their integration in printed formats, the present study is interested in demonstrating that the Carolingian cycle traveled an opposite path, but remaining within the context of editorial experimentation that played with episodes, characters, amplification techniques and redundant elements. The study also aims to show how the extensive versions of the most representative romances of the cycle managed to position themselves as commercial hooks in the most demanded and novel format of the time: the printed book.
La intertextualidad como creación y como interpretación de los silencios de la historia de la lírica trobadoresca
Frente a los silencios de la documentación, la metodología de la intertextualidade ofrece la posibilidad de recuperar del corpus de nuestra lírica esquemas métricos y estróficos, rimas y rimantes, motivos y temas, semas y vocabulario que, estudiados con el rigor de la hermeneútica permiten el reagrupamiento de textos y trovadores y sirven, cuando se producen las condiciones más idóneas, para reorientar nuestras pesquisas históricas. Estudiaremos algunos de estos hechos intertextuales a través de la producción poética de trovadores gallegoportugueses de las primeras generaciones, esto es, autores que compusieron entre 1175 y 1250 grosso modo. Analizaremos una serie de casos que consideramos claros en su planteamiento y en el objetivo central de este trabajo: deshacer el silencio documental gracias a la intertextualidade a la hora de establecer ciertas relaciones entre trovadores y su cronología.
Glotopolitical perspectives on linguistic inequalities in Romance languages: three complementary axes?
This paper proposes a reflection on the progress and contributions of Glotopolitical studies in the field of Romance sociolinguistics. To this end, three complementary axes of analysis are identified in relation to linguistic inequalities in the Romance language area: ethnosociolinguistic, sociodiscursive and sociodidactic. The first section consists of a critical reflection on the change of perspective in the social and academic valuation of multilingualism, in order to contextualise this proposal. The second section presents a brief review of the development and meaning of Glotopolitical studies, considering that this perspective acts as a thread running through the three axes defined. Finally, each of the axes is presented, highlighting their close relationship as communicating vessels. This paper hopes to provide an alternative access to studies based on this approach, as well as to suggest some lines of research concerning phenomena related to vulnerability, sociolinguistic representations and the teaching-learning of minoritised Romance languages.
Copyright (c) 2025 Revista de Filología Románica
Vernacular Translations of Boccaccio’s Work: the «Cleres femmes» and the Editorial Phases of the De mulieribus claris
This paper opens with an overview of the most ancient vernacular translations of Boccaccio’s De mulieribus claris (one of his most widespread work throughout the xivth and xvth centuries), then it focuses on the French reception of the De mulieribus, commonly known as “Cleres femmes”. The essay traces the main studies on this translation, and moreover it provides the first in-depth analysis of the relationship between the French vernacular translation and the Latin work in its different stages. Finally, it has been possible to state that the French vernacular translation derives from the seventh stage of Zaccaria’s scheme (stage A in the most recent proposal to reduce the number of phases from nine to two).
The cantigas of Pero Gonçalvez de Portocarreiro
This article is a study of the songbook of Pero Gonçalvez de Portocarreiro, a troubadour of Portuguese origin who lived around the second half of the thirteenth century. The manuscript tradition has transmitted to us only four compositions of his authorship, all of them belonging to the genre of amigo, which are characterised by their singularity with respect to the presence of concrete lexicon, the symbolism derived from it and its interpretation. Thus, in addition to the textual fixation of the cantigas, this work focuses mainly on the complete analysis of the songbook from a literary and rhetorical point of view.
Towards a characterization of social minorities in Cancionero de Baena
The main objective is to analyze how minority groups of the time are represented in the Cancionero de Baena and to examine the relationships between these groups and the rest of the majority society. To do this, the study begins with the literary source, which is necessarily supplemented by other sources, particularly the normative texts of the period. The comparison of all these sources aims to delineate each of these minority social groups and analyze them as a reflection of the social change that occurred in 15th-century medieval Spain.
«Worn Land and Royal Exhortation»: Prophecies in the Baladro del Sabio Merlín of 1535 vs. Prophecies in the Chronicle of Emperor Clarimundo
This text deals with the writing of the Prophecies found in The Ballad of the Wise Merlin from 1535 and the Prophecies uttered by Fanimor, a character from the First Chronicle of Portuguese Chivalry, the Chronicle of Emperor Clarimundoby João de Barros from 1522. To do so, we will attempt to analyze the possible ideological meanings of each of them, also considering other older prophecies, those that are part of a 14th-century testimony in the Suite of the Book of Merlin. Using a comparative methodology, our goal will be to assess the representations of royalty in both texts.
«A génese da alma portuguesa». Some similarities between the Crónica do Imperador Clarimundo and the Ciclo de D. Belindo
Despite the founding role of the Crónica do Imperador Clarimundo (1522) and its great popularity in Portugal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, no direct reference to this book (published by the historian João de Barros in his youth) has been found in the Crónica do Imperador Beliandro (or Ciclo de D. Belindo), another chivalric romance whose first two parts were written by the Countess of Vidigueira, D. Leonor Coutinho de Távora (†1648). Nevertheless, in this work I propose an exploration of some similarities and shared key moments between João de Barros’s Clarimundo and the Ciclo de Belindo, the first and one of the last books of chivalry written in Portuguese.
A heróica origem da monarquia portuguesa: a proposta de João de Barros nos capítulos III 82 e 83 da Crónica do emperador Clarimundo
Nos famosos capítulos III 82 e 83 do Clarimundo, João de Barros, futuro cronista da expansão portuguesa na Índia explicita o propósito político da sua novela de cavalaria. Nesse capítulo decorre a profecia do mago Fanimor, que inclui a genealogia dos reis de Portugal descendentes do herói Clarimundo e uma geografia do império em época de D. Manuel I, e o subsequente relato pelo rei mouro de Lisboa, Fíbar, da fundação da cidade e do povoamento antigo de Portugal. A partir da análise destes três fragmentos, comentamos a hábil articulação de fontes clássicas e contemporâneas mediante a qual o prosista deu forma em língua portuguesa a alguns motivos que foram fundamentais, a seguir, para o desenvolvimento do corpus heróico português, incluídos Os Lusíadas. A nossa hipótese é que essa capacidade do relato de Barros para sintetizar várias fontes traduzia em forma poética uma necessidade política da época: agregar, sob a tutela política de la corona portuguesa, um conjunto díspar de territórios, povos, culturas e línguas.
Il terzo libro di Palmerino d’Inghilterra (1559), an Italian continuation of Palmeirim de Inglaterra: macabre adventures and infernal spaces
The third part of Palmerino di Inghilterra (1559), the Italian continuation of Palmeirim de Inglaterra, introduces a remarkable presence of macabre elements and infernal settings, which are uncommon in the works of Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano. The novel unfolds a series of adventures in enchanted and terrifying spaces, such as the Torre dello Spavento or the Isola del Lago Senza Fondo, inhabited by man-eating creatures, human bones, and rivers of blood. Compared to other continuations of the Palmerinian cycle, such as Polendo, Palmerino di Inghilterra III stands out for its emphasis on the creation of gloomy landscapes and a somber tone. This analysis explores the impact of these elements on the chivalric tradition and their relationship with the construction of the marvelous in 16th-century literature.
«Este é o livro das gerações: linhagens bíblicas e romance arturiano
O “Lancelot-Graal”, vasto ciclo arturiano em prosa, manifesta no seu conjunto uma estrutura coerente e uma intenção harmoniosa nos temas e sentidos que desenvolve, seguindo de perto o padrão da Bíblia Sagrada. A sua construção revela um cuidadoso paralelismo entre a matéria arturiana e a escatologia cristã, assemelhando-se a uma verdadeira “versão cavaleiresca da História do mundo”, tal como observado por José Carlos Miranda. Sob essa perspetiva, as personagens e a narrativa arturiana inserem-se num tempo que se estende desde a Criação até ao Juízo Final. A Estoire del Saint Graal desempenharia, assim, o papel do Génesis no ciclo, dando conta das origens do Graal e da cavalaria. Esta análise explora o impacto dos elementos da tradição bíblica, nomeadamente do Génesis, na construção da estrutura e do sentido da Estoire e, por conseguinte, de toda a organização cíclica.
O Conde Dom Henrique «donde vêm os reis de Portugal»…
Muslim eschatology in the Book of the Holy Grail
In this article, we demonstrate the intertextual relationships between the Book of the Holy Grail and one of the main Muslim eschatological narratives, known in medieval Europe as Muhammad’s Ladder. For the comparative analysis, we used the version of the Book of Muhammad’s Ladder commissioned by Alphonse X to the translators of Toledo, in the 13th century, recently translated into Portuguese; and the sixteenth century translation of the Book of the Holy Grail into Portuguese. Whenever appropriate, we resort to the original French text of this work, as well as other versions of the Islamic narrative.
Clarimundo and Clarinda: the strength of loving by image
The Chronicle of Emperor Clarimundo, by João de Barros (1496-1570), completes 500 years duly hailed by critics, for various reasons, ranging from the author's young age when composing it, to the Prophecy of Fanimor that integrates it or the chronological priority among the so-called «Portuguese books of chivalry». To these just recognitions we must add what matters to any reader, even a non-specialized one: the indisputable excellence of the text that sprang from the fertile inventiveness of Barros, supported by the Arthurian tradition and, closer, by Amadis de Gaula. The dizzying sequence of episodes, typical of the novelistic model, remains faithful to the predictions of the exordium, seductively taken up from the most diverse angles. In one of them, decisive, Clarimundo falls in love with Clarinda once and for all, when he contemplates her image portrayed on a «távoa» (a small wooden tablet). The expedient, with broad intrinsic and extrinsic implications, is inserted in the core of classical and medieval, pagan and Christian iconography, as I propose to examine in this article
Lista de libros recibidos (enero de 2024- mayo de 2025)
Isabel de Riquer (ed. y estudio): Cartas (1949-1955). La Filología Románica en la posguerra. Martín de Riquer e István Frank (2023). Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona. 359 pp. ISBN 978-84-9168-947-8.
Silleras-Fernández, Nuria. The Politics of Emotion. Love, Grief, and Madness in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia. Cornell University Press, Ithaca & Londres, 2024, 372 pp. ISBN: 978-1-5017-7386-0
Review of SILLERAS-FERNÁNDEZ, Nuria. The Politics of Emotion. Love, Grief, and Madness in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia. Cornell University Press, Ithaca & Londres, 2024, 372 pp. ISBN: 978-1-5017-7386-0
Sara J. Charles (2024): The Medieval Scriptorium. Making Books in the Middle Ages. Londres: Reaktion Books. 349 pp. ISBN: 978-1-78914-916-6
Richard Newhauser (2023): Por una Edad Media sensorial: aportes de Richard Newhauser. Ed. de Gerardo Fabián Rodríguez y Lidia Raquel Miranda; trad. de Carlos Rafael Domínguez y María Emilia García Miranda. Mar del Plata: Universidad de Mar del Plata. 355 pp. ISBN: 978-987-811-082-0
Mariagrazia Staffieri (2924): Fernan Gonçalvez de Seabra. Cantigas. Milano: Ledizioni (Biblioteca de Carte Romanze 20). 212 pp. ISBN 9791256001798
María Antonia García Garrido e Inés Velázquez Puerto (ed.) (2024): Tradiciones poéticas de la Romania (entre la Edad Media y la Edad Moderna). Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. 793 pp. ISBN 978-84-1311-915-1
José Manuel Losada Goya (2022): Mitocrítica Cultural. Madrid: Ediciones Akal. 828 pp. ISBN: 978-84-460-5267-8