9/8-9-14: Eighth Day, Introduction & Stories 1-5

[Kris]

This thread is for the discussion of The Decameron, Eighth Day, Introduction & Stories 1-5.

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

First tale (VIII, 1)

Neifile narrates. This tale (and the next one) comes from a thirteen-century French fabliau by Eustache d'Amiens. English speakers know it best from Chaucer's "The Shipman's Tale". Chaucer borrowed from the same fabliau as Boccaccio did.

The Shipman's Tale (also called The Sailor's Tale) is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

It is in the form of a fabliau and tells the story of a miserly merchant, his avaricious wife and her lover, a wily monk. Although similar stories can be found in Boccaccio's Decameron, a frequent source for Chaucer's tales, the story is a retelling of a common folk tale; "the lover's gift regained".

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

Third tale (VIII, 3)



Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco go in quest of the heliotrope (bloodstone) beside the Mugnone


The mineral heliotrope, also known as bloodstone, is a form of chalcedony (which is a cryptocrystalline mixture of quartz and its monoclinic polymorph moganite). The "classic" bloodstone is green chalcedony with red inclusions of iron oxide or red jasper. Sometimes the inclusions are yellow, in which case the mineral is given the name plasma.

The red inclusions are supposed to resemble spots of blood; hence the name "bloodstone". The name "heliotrope" (from Greek ήλιος helios, Sun, τρέπειν trepein, to turn) derives from various ancient notions about the manner in which the mineral reflects light. These are described, e.g., by Pliny the Elder (Nat. Hist. 37.165). [1]

Heliotrope features in one of Boccaccio's stories in the Decameron.

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

Elissa narrates this tale, the first in which Bruno and Buffalmacco appear. The two were early Renaissance Italian painters. However, both are known far better for their love of practical jokes than for their artistic work. Boccaccio probably invented this tale himself, though, and used well known jokers as characters.



Buonamico di [son of] Martino or Buonamico Buffalmacco (active c. 1315–1336) was an Italian painter who worked in Florence, Bologna and Pisa. Although none of his known work has survived, he is widely assumed to be the painter of a most influential fresco cycle in the Camposanto in Pisa, featuring the The Three Dead and the Three Living, the Triumph of Death, the Last Judgement, the Hell, and the Thebais (several episodes from the lives of the Holy Fathers in the Desert). Painted some ten years before the Black Death spread over Europe in 1348, the cycle - a "painted sermon" (L. Bolzoni) - enjoyed an extraordinary success after that date, and was often imitated throughout Italy. The youngsters' party enjoying themselves in a beautiful garden while Death piles mounds of corpses all around is likely to have inspired the setting of Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, written a few years after the Black Death.

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

Fourth tale (VIII, 4)

Emilia's tale originates from the fabliau "Le Prestre et Alison" by Guillaume Le Normand

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

Fifth tale (VIII, 5)



c1430-40 Stealing a judge's britches.

Everything you'll ever want to know about medieval underwear:

Sherts, Trewes, & Hose .i. :
A Survey of Medieval Underwear


http://www.greydragon.org/library/und...




Boccaccio, ca 1475, of a woman prisoner wearing trewes.

[Yann]

ReemK10 (Paper Pills) wrote: "The Shipman's Tale (also called The Sailor's Tale) is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer."

Nice! I had the feeling that some of these stories were shared between these two books.

[Book Portrait]

Pfiou! We iz already in day 8?! O_o

I'm just a leettle bit behind (somewhere in day 6 I think!). But that post on medieval underwear is making me very curious... ^^

[Book Portrait]

Illustrations - Day VIII Story 1



http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1...
Gulfardo payant Ambruogia


Source: gallica.bnf.fr

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[Book Portrait]

Illustrations - Day VIII Story 2



http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1...
Belcolore récupérant son mortier


Source: gallica.bnf.fr

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[Book Portrait]

Illustrations - Day VIII Story 3



http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1...
Calandrino lapidé par ses amis


Source: gallica.bnf.fr

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[Book Portrait]

Illustrations - Day VIII Story 4



http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1...
Punition du prévôt de Fiesole


Source: gallica.bnf.fr

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[Book Portrait]

Illustrations - Day VIII Story 5



http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1...
Maso del Saggio se moquant du juge


Source: gallica.bnf.fr

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[Linda]

Thanks, BP! It wouldn´t be the same reading it without these! :)

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

Book Portrait wrote: "Pfiou! We iz already in day 8?! O_o

I'm just a leettle bit behind (somewhere in day 6 I think!). But that post on medieval underwear is making me very curious... ^^"

BP, it is good that you checked in and posted your pics as I was getting worried about you. And you know you just wanted to learn more about medieval underwear! lol

[Book Portrait]

Linda wrote: "Thanks, BP! It wouldn´t be the same reading it without these! :)"

Every little help to keep reading! :)

[Book Portrait]

ReemK10 (Paper Pills) wrote: "BP, it is good that you checked in and posted your pics as I was getting worried about you. And you know you just wanted to learn more about medieval underwear! lol"

The hands stealing the underwear from under the table is just too much to resist! I'll have to catch up asap. :)

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

Yann wrote: "ReemK10 (Paper Pills) wrote: "The Shipman's Tale (also called The Sailor's Tale) is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer."

Nice! I had the feeling that some of these stories were shared..."

Go figure Yann, “Chaucer Doth Tweet,” has now attracted an impressive 29,800 followers

https://twitter.com/LeVostreGC