Sub specie animalium. Simbologia faunistica della società medioevale nella Regale du Monde
What is it about?
The article concerns an unpublished 14th-century French text, the "Regale du Monde": it is a text belonging to the genre of dream visions. Among the most relevant and interesting features of this composition is the fact that its main protagonists (i.e., representatives of the social classes) assume a symbolic animal nature. The "Regale du Monde" is a text that draws whimsically on a variety of sources including, in addition to visionary literature and the Holy Scriptures, encyclopedic and philosophical texts, bestiaries, heraldry, vernacular literature, and the "conflictus" tradition. But the eclecticism of this composition also involves its linguistic aspect: the text, in fact, is preceded by a Latin prologue, the edition and a translation of which the article provides.
Why is it important?
The article advances a new dating hypothesis for the composition and, above all, sheds light on the symbolic meaning of the animals featured in it, with specific regard to the very peculiar case of the "tarin" (the siskin). This work also offers the edition of a long Latin prologue that precedes the French text: it is a corrupt Latin and often difficult to interpret, but nevertheless very interesting because it offers a narrative framework that foregrounds the rulers of France and England - marked by their heraldic symbols and animals - in the contingent context of the Hundred Years' War.