Abel SOLER

Burgundy and German Empire in Curial. The centre of Europe seen from the periphery

Borgonya i l’Imperi Alemany en el Curial. El centre d’Europa vist des de la perifèria

Published in New Approaches in the Research on the Crown of Aragon

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The chivalric romance Curial e Güelfa (anonymous; datable ca. 1445-1448) is the most emblematic literary artefact of a court in Europe’s periphery, like the Neapolitan one of Alfonso the Magnanimous, where Catalan –also a «periphereal» language– was the most widespread. The king’s favourite painters were Flemish and the author of the romance was fascinated by the Burgundian cavalry-performance, played here by characters like the duke (Philip III the Pious), the lords of Bergues and Saint-Georges, the German duke of Kleve, etc. The Holy Roman Empire, the duchies of Bavaria and Austria, the kingdom of Hungary and other states in central Europe are well depicted in the romance, as the unknown writer had news about the courts, the diplomacy and the aristocratic circles from the heart of the continent.