Escuela Siciliana

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Sicilian School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The birth ofFrederick II,Holy Roman EmperorandKing of Sicily

The Sicilian School was a small community ofSicilian, and to a lesser extent, mainland

Italian poets gathered aroundFrederick II, most of them belonging to his court, the

Magna Curia. Headed byGiacomo da Lentini, they produced more than three-hundred

poems ofcourtly lovebetween 1230 and 1266, the experiment being continued after

Frederick's death by his son,Manfredi. This school includedEnzio, king ofSardinia,

Pier delle Vigne,Inghilfredi,Stefano Protonotaro, Guido andOdo delle Colonne,

Rinaldo d'Aquino,Giacomino Pugliese,Giacomo da Lentini,Arrigo Testa,Mazzeo

Ricco,Perceval Doria, and Frederick II himself.

Contents

[hide]

1 Origins 2 The work of a roving school 3 Style and subject-matter 4 The limitations of Sicilian poetry 5 Realism and parody: Cielo d'Alcamo 6 Linguistic notes on the Sicilian standard 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Origins

These poets drew inspiration from thetroubadourpoetry of SouthernFrancewritten in

langue d'oc, which applied the feudalcode of honorto the relation between a man

(acting as the vassal) and a woman (acting as king or superior). This is a reversal of the

traditional role of women, traditionally dependent on men, and marks a new awarenessinmedievalsociety: the decadence offeudalismwith the increasing power of themiddle

class, causes a shift in the reading public, the epic (traditionally devoted to great

military pursuits) gradually giving way to the lyric (generally focused on love). In the

lower Middle Ages more and more women were reading books than ever before and

poetry tried to adapt to their point of view and their newly acquired role in society.

Palazzo deiNormanni, one of the places that hosted Frederick'sMagna Curia

These features are shared with French poetry, then very influential inItaly. Whatdistinguishes the Sicilian School from the troubadours, however, is the introduction of a
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kinder, gentler type of woman than that found in their French models; one who was

nearer toDante's madonnas andPetrarch's Laura, though much less characterised

psychologically. The poems of the Sicilians hardly portray real women or situations

(Frederick's song cannot be read as autobiographical), but the style and language are

remarkable, since the Sicilians (as Dante called them) created the first Italian literary

standard by enriching the existing vernacular base, probably inspired by popular lovesongs, with new words ofLatinandProvenalorigin.

[edit] The work of a roving school

"It is lyric poetry to be in the forefront of literature, inspiring a widespread enthusiasm

whose effects will be felt for centuries. The initial boost given by the Sicilian poets

from the Svevs' court, the first to use a standardised vernacular to make art poetry will

be passed on to many others: and all of them, not just the pedantic imitators of the

Siculo-Tuscan school (such asBonagiunta Orbicciani) but alsoGuinizzelli, the poets of

Dolce Stil Novoand more widely all writers of verse, will have to deal, though bydifferent degrees, with the Sicilian models, so that some peculiarities will be assimilated

into standard usage ofItalian poetry." (Bruno Migliorini,Storia della letteratura

italiana)

Though yet confined to a few notaries and dignitaries of the emperors, such poetry

shows for the first time uniform linguistic traits and a richness in vocabulary far

exceeding that of the Sicilian dialect(s) by which it was inspired. TheMagna curia was

not based in any given city, but always moving across Southern Italy, a fact which

helped the school avoid the temptation of choosing any local dialect as the starting point

for their new language. That is why the new standard turned up to be akoin, a melting

pot of many different vernaculars.

The reason for moving from city to city was mainly political. Although his experiment

was short-lived, Frederic successfully created the first modern state in Europe, run by an

efficient bureaucracy: its members were neither appointed from the aristocracy nor the

clergy with good reason, since the former were far more interested in defending their

own privileges than the welfare of the country and often plotted against him in the hope

of regaining their power, while the latter were basically faithful to the Pope, his biggest

enemy.

Frederic was in fact dismantling the feudal system of government inherited from the

Normans, his magna curia and minor dignitaries were usually chosen from lay orders(like his poet-notaries). He also abolished internal barriers: free trade brought prosperity

to the South, makingBari(as witnessed by Cielo in his Contrasto) one of the richest

cities in theMediterranean. But, keeping this modern state afloat, meant that his barons

had no power to collect taxes, their greatest source of revenues. Hence the necessity for

Frederick to bring law and order by moving his court to and through.

[edit] Style and subject-matter

Though the Sicilian School is generally considered conventional in theme or content it

rather "stands out for his refined lexicon, near to the style oftrobar clus and for the wisetreatment of figures of speech and metaphors ofstylnovistic taste taken from natural
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philosophy" (Cesare Segre). There is a visible move towards neoplatonic models, which

will be embraced byDolce Stil Novoin the later 13th centuryBolognaandFlorence,

and more markedly byPetrarch. Unlike the Northern Italiantroubadours, no line is ever

written inOccitan. Rather, the Occitan repertoire ofchivalryterms is adapted to the

Siculo-Italianphoneticsandmorphology, so that new Italian words are actually coined,

some adapted, but none really loaned. A most famous specimen isIo m'aggio posto incore byGiacomo da Lentini, who apparently inspired the movement. Giacomo da

Lentini is also widely credited by scholars (as Francesco Bruni, Cesare Segre et al.) for

inventing thesonnet, a literary form later perfected by Dante and, most of all, Petrarch.

He uses it in a number of poems. We quote here the most famous that probably inspired

the whole school:

Io m'aggio posto in core a Dio servire,

com'io potesse gire in paradiso,

al santo loco c'aggio audito dire,

o' si mantien sollazzo, gioco e riso.

sanza mia donna non vi voria gire,quella c'ha blonda testa e claro viso,

che sanza lei non poteria gaudere,

estando da la mia donna diviso.

Ma no lo dico a tale intendimento,

perch'io pecato ci volesse fare;

se non veder lo suo bel portamento

e lo bel viso e 'l morbido sguardare:

che 'l mi teria in gran consolamento,

veggendo la mia donna in ghiora stare.

Translation:

I have a place in my heart for God reserved,

So that I may go to Heaven,

To the Holy Place where, I have heard,

People are always happy and joyous and merry.

I wouldn't want to go there without my lady

The one with fair hair and pale complexion,

Because without her I could never be happy,

Being separated from my lady.

But I do not say that with blasphemous intent,As if I wanted to sin with her:

If I did not see her shapely figure

And her beautiful face and tender look:

Since it would greatly comfort me

To see my woman shine in glory.

[edit] The limitations of Sicilian poetry

The main inhibiting factor on Sicilian poetry was probably the political censorship

imposed by Frederick: literary debate was confined to courtly love. In this respect, the

poetry of the north, though stuck to thelangues d'ol, provided fresher blood for

satire.[citation needed]

The north was fragmented into communes or little city-states which
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had a relatively democratic self-government, and that is precisely why thesirventese

genre, and later, Dante'sDivina Commediaand sonnets were so popular: they referred

to real people and feelings, though often idealised like Beatrice. A sirventese is, in

effect, eminently political: it usually refers to real battles and attacks real military or

political enemies, the author often being the soldier or the knight involved in the strife,

as inGuittone d'Arezzo'sRotta di Montaperti (Defeat of Montaperti), a bloody battlewhereManfred of Sicily, Frederick's son, defeated the guelfs. Dante himself will

commemorate the event in the Commedia many years later, where, mindful of the

political strife that had him exiled, he will attack many princes and popes, such as

Boniface VIII, one of his biggest personal enemies.

Frederick's censorship is also apparent from the structure of the song: the Sicilians

transformed thetornada, the strophe which in troubadour poetry contains a dedication

to a famous person with a congedo, where the poet bids goodbye to his reader and asks

the song to bear his message to his lady. The re-shaping of the Occitan model also

involved the suppression of music. The authors were great readers and translators, but

apparently could not play any instrument, so their work was intended for reading, whichcalled for logical unity, posing a question, proposing, and finding a solution in the end.

That meant no interchangeable lines as in troubadour poetry and fewer repetitions: for a

Frenchjongleurwho sang his poems these were necessary, but they sounded redundant

to the Sicilian authors. Their poetry was music to the eye, not to the ear, and their

legacy is also apparent in Dante and Petrarch's lyrics. The sonnet is even more exacting

on this point: the separation between the octave and the sestet is purely a logical one,

the rimes drawing a visual line between the first and last part. However, the fact that

Italian poetry was being made for the reading public may have facilitated its circulation.

[edit] Realism and parody: Cielo d'Alcamo

Frederick's Augustale (c. 1250), a valued currency widely used throughoutItalyis

mentioned in the Contrasto, and helped scholars establish its date.

Thoughlyric poetryprevailed at Frederick's (and later Manfredi's) court, it is at this

time that we have an interesting exception inRosa fresca aulentissima (transl: "Fresh

very perfumed rose"), widely known as Contrasto and attributed toCielo d'Alcamo

(also known as Ciullu di Vincenzullu), about which modern critics have much exercised

themselves. This Contrasto is written in aSicilian dialectclose to that spoken in the city

ofMessina, with several influences from continental Italian variants. The subject is a

humorous fight between two young lovers, a kind of poetry quite common in theMiddleAges(as contrasti orpastorelle). It is about a young suitor who sneaks into the garden
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5/5

of a young lady from a rich Sicilian family and secretly declares his love to her. He then

tries to seduce the girl with his one-liners; she berates him for his "ill" intentions and

keeps him at bay to protect her honor, but her prudeness proves eventually to be just a

love game: she gives in completely to his bold advances. However, the language uses

much of the courtly language of lyric poetry and the result is a parody of the Sicilian

School's clichs. The Contrasto belongs to the time of the emperor Frederick II (it canbe dated between 1230 and 1250, but probably closer to the latter), and is also important

as a proof that there once existed a popular, independent of literary, poetry prior to

Frederick's times. Now most critics agree that the Contrasto of Cielo d'Alcamo is

probably a scholarly re-elaboration of some lost popular song. It is perhaps the closest

to a kind of poetry that has perished or which was smothered by the Sicilian literature of

Frederick's. Its distinguishing feature was its hilarity and down-to-earthedness as

opposed to the abstract verse of the Sicilian School. But it has been argued that its style

betrays a profound knowledge of Frederick's movement and some critics have hinted

the man who penned it must have been acquainted with or even been part of, the court

itself. Given the highly satiric and erotic vein Ciullo d'Alcamo may well be a fictitious

name. His Contrasto shows vigor and freshness in the expression of feelings: Such"low" treatment of the love-theme shows that its subject-matter is certainly popular.

This poem sounds real and spontaneous, marked as it is by the sensuality characteristic

of the people of southern Italy.

[edit] Linguistic notes on the Sicilian standard

The standard of the Sicilian school combines many traits typical of the Sicilian, Latin,

Provenal and to a lesser, but not negligible extent, Apulian and certain southern

dialects. Such amelting potgreatly helped the newItalian language: the Provenal

suffixes -ire and -ce, for example, generated hundreds of new Italian words in -ieraand -za as it. riv-iera ("river") or costan-za ("constancy"). Such affixes would be then

adopted by Dante and his contemporaries, and handed on to future generations ofItalian

writers. Dante's styles illustre, cardinale, aulico, curiale were partly developed from his

close study of the Sicilian School which he quotes widely in his studies, especially in

hisDe Vulgari Eloquentia. The Sicilian school was later re-founded byGuittone

d'ArezzoinTuscanyfollowing the death of Manfredi, Frederick's son, so many of these

poems were later copied in manuscripts that widely circulated inFlorence. This first

standard in which they were written, was, however, modified in Tuscany. In fact,

Tuscanscrivenersperceived the five-vowel system used by southern Italian dialects (i,

e, a, o, u) as a seven-vowel one (i, , , a, , , u). As a consequence, the Italian texts

may contain lines that no longer rhyme with each other (sic. -i > tusc. -, sic. -u > tusc. -). Tuscans also changed words as gloria [pron. glreea] to ghiora, aju [pron. yoo] ("I

have) to aggio [pron. adjo] etc. Though some original texts have been restored to their

original Sicilian, we must see such remakes only as tentative reconstructions of

originals that, unfortunately, may have been lost forever. Dante and his contemporaries

would take this newborn language a step further, expanding and enriching it with even

more words of Latin and Florentine origin, carefully working on the style to create

volgare illustre, a higher standard quite close to today's polite Italian.
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Escuela Siciliana

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