ii8 Appendix A 



Significant, too, is the fact that on June 15, 1378, Luchino 

 Novello Visconti, son of Luchino (Corio, p. 482; R. I. S. 16. 

 753; Giulini 5. 470), who was to sail early in July with Valen- 

 tina, daughter of Bernabo, to marry Pierre II, King of .Cyprus 

 (see p. 109), wrote to obtain 'unum romanum loquentem de 

 Tristano vel Lanzaloto, aut de aliqua alia pulcra et delectabili 

 materia'; this was for pastime on the journey.^'* As to the 

 latter, we should remind ourselves that such seriousness in deal- 

 ing with the matter of romance was by no means unexampled. 

 Roger of Hoveden, writing at the beginning of the 13th century, 

 tells us that Richard Coeur de Lion, being in Sicily in the spring 

 of 1 191, 'gave Tancred that best of swords which the British 

 call Caliburne [Excalibur], formerly the sword of Arthur, once 

 the noble king of England.'"" The Itinerarium Regis Ricardi, 

 the chief European account of the Third Crusade, says of 

 Richard"^: 'His was the valor of Hector, the magnanimity of 



Francesca; that a subtitle for the Decameron was II Principe GaleoHo 

 (cf. Hutton, p. 292, note) ; and that the Amadis of Gaul is largely indebted 

 to the Lancelot (4. 371-3). One of Bernabo's sons (b. 1356) was called 

 Leonello (R. I. S. 17. 500), or Lionello. Commenting upon this fact, 

 Rajna (Romania 17. 184, note 8) thinks there is no doubt that this is a 

 direct allusion to the romance, and adduces in support of his view the 

 names of other children of Bernabo : Lancilotto, Sagromoro, Palamede 

 (Palamidesse), Ettore (Astore), Galeotto; Isotta (Isolta), Ginevra (cf. 

 Corio, p. 509; R. I. S. 17. 500). Even Galeazzo, according to Rajna (p. 

 182, note 2), is only another form of Galahad (which did not prevent the 

 author of eight lines over the gateway of the Castello at Pavia from 

 punning on the helmet there represented: 'Hac galea Galeaz castrum 

 defendit et urbem'; so Jovius, in Grsevius, p. 315). 



"Jorga, Philippe de Mezieres, p. 42S, note 6; cf. R. I. S. 16. 771. 



=" Archer, The Crusade of Richard I, pp, 48-49- Archer remarks (p. 48, 

 note) : 'Though discarded by graver historians, such as William of New- 

 burgh, the Arthurian stories soon worked their way deep down into the 

 popular mind. In 1191, according to Ralph of Coggeshall, Arthur's tomb 

 was discovered at Glastonbury with the inscription: "Here in the valley 

 of Avallion lies buried the renowned king Arthur." The pervading influ- 

 ence of the legend may be seen in the fact that Arthur's name was given 

 to the posthumous son of Geoffrey, the third son of Henry II.' 



^^ Archer, p. 6, who adds: 'The allusions here are to various cliansons 

 de geste which seem to have been favorite reading with this writer.' 

 Elsewhere the Itinerarium speaks of the 'period we still hear sung of in 

 the "Gestes" about the famous victory of Boemund, of Tancred, Godfrey 

 de Bouillon, and other noble chiefs of highest renown' (Archer, p. 283, 



