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La présente thèse se propose de jeter un éclairage nouveau sur le mythe d’Hercule dans les textes du Moyen Âge, en examinant ses sources et son évolution. Un intérêt particulier est porté à des matériaux textuels peu étudiés de provenance française, du xiie au xve siècle. Les textes abordés comprennent, d’un côté, des commentaires latins aux auteurs classiques, aux Métamorphoses d’Ovide en particulier, et des traités de mythographie qui leur sont apparentés, et de l’autre, les compilations historiographiques en langue française, dont la tradition recoupe, à son tour, celles des œuvres historico-romanesques. En partant de textes appartenant à ces ensembles distincts, il est possible de prendre en compte une large gamme de matériaux herculéens, intégrés dans divers contextes interprétatifs, d’étudier l’évolution de différents épisodes de la vie du héros à l’intérieur et à travers des traditions textuelles et d’identifier les points d’intersection entre ces dernières. Les sources et la transmission manuscrite de l’Ovide moralisé, constituent un troisième point de focalisation. Cette adaptation française du xive siècle des Métamorphoses d’Ovide, située à la croisée de différentes traditions, complète en effet le récit ovidien avec des matériaux provenant d’une diversité de sources. Notre étude de la vita herculéenne dans l’Ovide moralisé cherche à éclairer les sources possibles de certains épisodes qui innovent par rapport aux Métamorphoses, et veut fournir de nouveaux aperçus sur la tradition manuscrite complexe de l’œuvre. L’étude est accompagnée d’une édition critique provisoire de la vie d’Hercule comprise au livre IX de l’Ovide moralisé (vers 1-1036). This thesis aims to shed new light on the myth of Hercules in medieval texts, by studying its sources and evolution. A particular focus is on little-studied, partially unedited textual material from 12th to 15th century France. Texts examined include, on the one hand, Latin commentaries on the Classics – on the Metamorphoses in particular – and related mythographic treatises, and, on the other, vernacular historiographical compilations, which evolved in close relation to works of historical romance. On the basis of texts belonging to these distinct traditions, it is possible to consider a large array of Hercules-related materials integrated within different interpretative contexts, to study the evolution of various episodes of the hero’s life within and across textual traditions and to identify intersections between them. A third focus is on the sources and manuscript tradition of the Ovide moralisé, a 14th century French adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, situated at the crossroads of different traditions, which completes the Ovidian narrative with material from a variety of sources. The study of Hercules’ life in the Ovide moralisé attempts to elucidate possible sources of specific episodes that innovate with regard to the Metamorphoses, and to offer new insights into the complex manuscript tradition of the work. This study is accompanied by a provisional critical edition of the life of Hercules in book IX of the Ovide moralisé (lines 1-1036).

The anonymous French Ovide moralisé is the first full translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, covering nearly 72,000 lines of octosyllabic verse. Its author incorporated earlier renderings of the tragic love stories of Philomela and Pyrame et Thisbé, adapted the remaining myths recounted in Ovid’s poem, and inserted additional ones for a readership no longer familiar with classical mythology. The medieval French author, however, not only translated and compiled myths, but also attempted to explain them based on the Christian four senses of Scripture. Ovid, so goes the message transmitted in the medieval adaptation, was not so much writing about Antique mythology as he was attempting to convey a Christian meaning concealed beneath the individual myths. To unveil this hidden meaning, the medieval author added exegetical interpretations to his translation—i.e., the moralisations that give the text its name and turn it into what is presumably the longest verse text in medieval French literature. Its date of composition is unknown, but it must have existed in 1328, since a manuscript of the work is mentioned in an inventory of items owned by Clemence of Hungary established the same year. Today, the text is most commonly dated between 1315 and 1325. It is thus relatively late regarding what has famously been called the aetas ovidiana of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, which also witnessed the first adaptations of the “Matter of Rome” into vernacular languages. The literary current that explains the emergence of the Ovide moralisé is the allegorical tradition, which took off toward the end of the thirteenth century with the Roman de la Rose and gradually touched a broad array of texts. Notwithstanding its length, the Ovide moralisé enjoyed a considerable career, as some twenty preserved manuscripts and two independent prose renderings show. Its considerable literary fortune during the Middle Ages stands in sharp contrast to the relative indifference of modern critics toward the work until relatively recently. Despite the existence of a reliable edition, it was not until the late twentieth century that the Ovide moralisé began to attract scholarly interest. Much remains to be said about its manuscript tradition and manifold sources. Moreover, the Latin and vernacular glosses in some witnesses offer a field of research modern critics have only just begun to explore. Around 2007 an international consortium of scholars—Ovide en Français (OEF)—formed in order to explore different aspects of the text and to prepare a new critical edition of the Ovide moralisé. The present bibliography relies heavily on the work accomplished by this team and aims to offer an overview of the relevant areas of ongoing research, as well as outline some of the crucial and as yet unanswered questions surrounding the work.

Between the Transformacions of Francesc Alegre (c.1452 - c.1508) and the mythological proses of Joan Roís de Corella some textual coincidences have been detected. Not without reservations, these coincidences have been explained as Corellas influence on Alegre. This is the most satisfactory explanation, given Alegre’s admiration and imitation of Corella’s prose, and Corella’s huge fame in the second half of the fifteenth century. However, Alegre knew earlier versions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, such as that by Francesc de Pinós (1416-1475), or the anonymous Castilian version, both nowadays lost. And perhaps these versions were known by Corella too. The textual coincidences of these two authors have been analyzed here to determine if they respond to Corella’s direct influence or if, in some cases, they could be explained by a common ancestor. Entre les Transformacions de Francesc Alegre (ca.1452 - ca.1508) i les proses mitològiques de Joan Roís de Corella hom hi ha detectat una sèrie de coincidències textuals explicades en conjunt, tot i que amb reserves, per una influència corellana. Aquesta resulta l’explicació més satisfactòria, atesa l’admiració que Alegre sent per Corella, la imitació que fa de la seva prosa i perquè el valencià és un autor consagrat a la segona meitat del segle xv. Ara bé, Alegre coneix versions anteriors de Les metamorfosis d’Ovidi, com la de Francesc de Pinós (1416-1475) o l’anònima castellana, avui perdudes, versions potser també conegudes per Corella. En aquest estudi analitzem críticament les coincidències textuals d'aquests dos autors amb l’objectiu de determinar si totes responen a una influència corellana o si, en algun cas, poden remetre a un ancestre comú.

This contribution is a further partial anticipation of the critical edition of the mythological faules of Joan Roís de Corella (15th century) for Barcino (ENC), after that appeared in Magnificat, vol.3, 2016. It focuses on one of the author's most mature and significant faules, as well as one of the most prestigious testimonies both of the presence of the myth of Ero and Leandro in the Iberian 15th century, and of the peninsular reception of the Heroides. The paper consists of two parts. In the first part, Introduction, the current situation of the studies related to the Istòria is first summarized. Next, the analysis of the literary memory that supports the discursive construction of the faula is provided, with the intent of demonstrating how the narration actualizes a game of mirroring, projections, refractions, intertextual references, and symbolic-allusive evocations that make res and characters the reviviscence of a plurality of classical and medieval models. Such a reviviscence results loaded of a new pathetic energy. The analysis is based on certain thematic words and specific topical-rhetorical matrices, reused either a lo profano or a lo divino, always within the idea of “dying together" and of love beyond death. It focuses on the communication strategies through which the text - a ficció sentimental, become a point of convergence of thematic, metaphorical and figural intertwinements, anchored to the Tristanian, lyrical-amorous, ausiasmarquiana, cancioneril and Passionist imagery of planctus virginis - transforms memory and reuse into an invention. The second part of the paper is the critical edition of the text. Anticipated by the Criteria of Edition, it contains the Text, with footnotes concerning the constitutio textus, and the Critical Apparatus.

Il contributo, che è un’anticipazione parziale dell’edizione critica integrale delle narrazioni mitologiche di Joan Roís de Corella (XV sec.) per Barcino (ENC), nasce dall’esigenza di rivedere la situazione testuale della faula in oggetto (Lamentació de Mirra, de Narciso, de Píramus i Tisbe) e di avanzare, dove necessario, nuove proposte di lettura. Esso consta di due parti, delle quali la prima contiene l’Introduzione, la seconda il Testo con note a piè di pagina, in cui si discutono questioni relative alla constitutio textus, l’Apparato e l’Apparato complementare. Nell’Introduzione si danno informazioni essenziali circa la tradizione manoscritta delle Lamentacions (altrimenti note come Lo jardí de amor) e le edizioni di cui sono state oggetto fino ad oggi; quindi si illustra in breve lo stato degli studi (pochi articoli) dedicati ad esse. Seguono riflessioni sulla coerenza diegetica e semantica del testo; sostanzialmente, ci si chiede perché l’autore combini i tre miti e come li amalgami, e quale sia il ruolo svolto da ciascuna delle tre figure esemplari; quindi, si mettono a fuoco i tratti di autonomia dell’opera rispetto alla formulazione ovidiana (o neo ovidiana) delle tre storie. Il contributo, che è un’anticipazione parziale dell’edizione critica integrale delle narrazioni mitologiche di Joan Roís de Corella (XV sec.) per Barcino (ENC), nasce dall’esigenza di rivedere la situazione testuale della faula in oggetto (Lamentació de Mirra, de Narciso, de Píramus i Tisbe) e di avanzare, dove necessario, nuove proposte di lettura. Esso consta di due parti, delle quali la prima contiene l’Introduzione, la seconda il Testo con note a piè di pagina, in cui si discutono questioni relative alla constitutio textus, l’Apparato e l’Apparato complementare. Nell’Introduzione si danno informazioni essenziali circa la tradizione manoscritta delle Lamentacions(altrimenti note come Lo jardí de amor) e le edizioni di cui sono state oggetto fino ad oggi; quindi si illustra in breve lo stato degli studi (pochi articoli) dedicati ad esse. Seguono riflessioni sulla coerenza diegetica e semantica del testo; sostanzialmente, ci si chiede perché l’autore combini i tre miti e come li amalgami, e quale sia il ruolo svolto da ciascuna delle tre figure esemplari; quindi, si mettono a fuoco i tratti di autonomia dell’opera rispetto alla formulazione ovidiana (o neo ovidiana) delle tre storie. This contribution is a partial anticipation of the integral critical edition of the mythological faules of Joan Roís de Corella(XV century) for Barcino (ENC). It derives from the need to revise the textual situation of the most representative faula of the initial Corellan narrative phase, namely Lamentació de Mirra, de Narciso, de Píramus i Tisbe, and to propose,where necessary, new textual lessons. It consists of an introductory section followed by a new edition of the text with its critical and complementary apparatuses. In the introduction, essential information is at first provided on the manuscript's tradition and previous editions of the Lamentacions, otherwise known as Lo jardí de amor, with reference to the few existing papers specifically dedicated to it. Then, reflections on the diegetic and semantic coherence of the Corellannarration follow, by inspecting on why the author combines and how he amalgams the three myths, and focusing on the traits of the faula’s autonomy from Ovidian (or neo-Ovidian) formulation of the three stories. This new edition of the faula is accompanied by footnotes, where questions related to the constitutio textus are discussed in detail.