Fideli scriptura depinxit: Pathways of the Trojan Matter between roman and coronica

• Grant number: 25/02140-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: August 24, 2025
• End date: February 23, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Other Vernacular Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Adma Fadul Muhana
• Grantee: Matheus Malagueta
• Supervisor: Giuseppina Brunetti
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università di Bologna, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/03031-9 - Paths of the Matter of Troy in Portugal (13th to 16th centuries): From Pedro de Barcelos to Coronica Troiana in Limguoajem Purtugesa, BP.MS

Abstract

From the 12th century onwards, Western Europe witnessed intense cultural translocations, particularly promoted by the ruling dynasties of the Frankish, Saxon, and Castilian kingdoms. The practice of translatio studii et imperii was grounded in the Greco-Latin legacy and can be identified in the medieval adaptations and appropriations of Antiquity, particularly in the accounts of the war and destruction of Troy. This tradition shaped, for example, one of the three thematic divisions of literature as outlined by the Picard trouvère Jean Bodel (1165-1210), who distinguished the "Matters of Britain, France, and Rome the Great."In Portugal, the translatio imperii gained significant momentum with the maritime expansion at the end of the 15th century, metaphorically casting Portugal - especially in Goa (India) - as a counterpart to the Eastern Roman Empire. In earlier centuries, however, tracing and mapping the pathways of the Trojan matter in the region that now corresponds to Portugal is more challenging. Most preserved sources concerning the reception of Antiquity in Portugal align with the intense translatio practices at the Avis Court (15th century).To assess references to the Trojan matter in Portuguese chronicle-historiographical texts prior to the earliest recorded mention of the Coronica Troiana em Limguoajem Purtugesa (16th century), it is necessary to identify the aspects of the legacy that would later be translated into the Portuguese vernacular. This research, therefore, aims to conduct an on-site study on the aspects and circulation of the sources of the Trojan matter in Western Europe, with its main pillars being the two medieval landmark texts on the subject: the Roman de Troie (12th century) and the Historia destructionis Troiae (13th century), as well as the Late Antique texts De excidio Troiae Historia, by Dares Phrygius (5th or 6th century AD), and Ephemeris Belli Troiani, by Dictys Cretensis (4th century AD).