Paths of the Matter of Troy in Portugal (13th to 16th centuries): From Pedro de Barcelos to Coronica Troiana in Limguoajem Purtugesa

• Grant number: 24/03031-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): September 01, 2024
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Other Vernacular Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Adma Fadul Muhana
• Grantee: Matheus Malagueta
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Three major subjects enjoyed prestige and wide circulation in the medieval West: the Matter of Britain, the Carolingian Cycle and the Matter of Rome. However, in Portugal, the presence of the Trojan tradition is timid. Between the 14th and 15th centuries, the Trojan theme appears in brief passages in the writings of Count Pedro de Barcelos, Fernão Lopes and Eanes de Zurara - unlike the fortune enjoyed by the subject in the Castilian language. Derived from the Roman de Troie and the Historia Destructionis Troiae, several textual versions of the Matter of Troy were written and began to circulate in the Iberian Low Middle Ages. In what recent studies have shown to be a consequence of the wide repercussion of the printed Crónica Troyana, it was only in the 16th century that we had, in Portugal, the Coronica Troiana in Limguoajem Purtugesa, an incomplete manuscript that translated the Chronicle of 1490. During the Middle Ages, Trojan Cycle has a less significant impact on Portuguese chronicles, which does not mean the non-existence of the circulation of Greco-Latin themes in Portugal, nor does it mean the public's lack of knowledge and lack of interest in relation to ancient matter. The 16th century Coronica appears as an affirmation of the fortunes of this tradition, now, in "limguoajem purtugesa", which, as we intend to study in the present project, is demonstrated in accordance with a 16th century perspective of translatio studii et imperii. We assume that the Matter of Troy, in Portugal, is not linked to the political interests of mythologizing royal dynasties, as was done in neighboring territories, but to the affirmation of the cultural power of an already solidified dynasty, in times of expansionism.