Il Novellino

Il Novellino (also known as Le ciento novelle antiche 'Hundred old novellas') is the name of the oldest collection of Italian novels from the second half of the 13th century. The collection is thus the ancestor of the entire genre of literature. The author , whocomes from Tuscany ,is not known, but is probably to be found in the vicinity of Florence . The collection was revised at the beginning of the 14th century and was published in 1525 by Carlo Gualteruzzi in an arrangement by Pietro Bembo under the title Cento Novelle Antiche in Bologna . A longer version in an arrangement by Vincenzo Borghini was publishedby Giunta in Florencein 1572under the title Libro di Novelle e di bel Parlar gentile .

In addition to the central figure of Emperor Friedrich II , the collection deals with ancient, biblical and medieval topics. In the 73rd novella How the Sultan was in need of money and wanted to blackmail a Jew, the tolerance motif of the ring parable appears for the first time in literature.

The first German translation was a joint effort by the ladies of the Tugendliche Gesellschaft and the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft at Bernburg Castle .

This collection of 100 novellas, Il Novellino from the 13th century, is not to be confused with the collection of 50 novellas of the same name, Il Novellino , a work by the Italian writer Masuccio Salernitano from the 15th century.

literature

• Ulrich Seelbach (Ed.): The narrations from the middle ages. The first translation of the Novellino from the circles of the Fruitful Society and the Tugendliche Gesellschaft (=  library of the literary association Stuttgart . Volume 311 ). Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1985.