The medieval epic romance and a new urban order

The Italian Carolingian epic first flourished in the Trevisan March at the end of the Duecento and then was gradually transplanted into Tuscany during the next century. The leaders of comuni or city-states that developed in these regions of the Italian peninsula fought for independence from traditional powers such as kings, emperors, and the Church. Yet, they also adopted and pieced together elements of the myths which supported these established authorities to create a version of history that validated their own political power. The Italian Carolingian epic borrowed its form, many of its narratives, and even its early lexicon from the Old French chanson de geste. Because of nationalistic concerns, however, several nineteenth-century medievalists sought to identify specific Italian characteristics in the Carolingian epics and established one of several dichotomies (Italian/French) which have structured the study of this genre. Other critical oppositions that this study will discuss include: "feudal" ideology vs. "bourgeois" ideology, orality vs. literacy, and chivalry vs. humanism, all of which could be subsumed under the well-known dichotomy of tradition vs. modernity. Instead of focusing on tradition as a monolithic whole, this study seeks to describe how the urban aristocracy of certain Italian city-states employed various traditions/genres to produce their own mythological bricolage.