Alongside Latin, French was ‘the other medieval language of prestige’ for many European countries, including Italy.¹ Given this linguistic cachet, French literary productions were readily imported into Italy, where romance texts proved no less alluring than in France. Medieval inventories and extant manuscripts prove the remarkable variety and quantity of Arthurian books in French that were produced and owned in Italy.² Arthurian stories were transmitted orally by jongleurs early on, and lengthy written texts were also translated or reworked into local vernacu lars to accommodate readers who lacked fluency in French.

Although a definitive account of the transmission of Arthurian...

[1] [f. 1ra]¹ ‘… fiio che entre dui volase, né tropo alto né tropo baso. Ma perciò ch’el non credè l’amonestame into del pare, anci vollò più i[n] alto ch’el non deveva, morì quello.’

‘Ora me diti, miser chavaliero,’ dixe l’altro, ‘no amessi vu may per amore?’ ‘Sì,’ ciò diso lo cavaliero, ‘ma no miga fina al² seno perder. Dio me guardi da mantegnir³ l’amore che me toia seno e raxon! E sì ve digo un’altra cossa, miser cavalliero, ch’io non fu may sença el mio chuor, anci lo sento nel mio peto bater e muover molto speso. E vui, miser...