Masuccio Salernitano (1410–1475)

Oh! The joy of old books. I had discovered Masuccio through John Addington Symons excellent Italian Renaissance series and found a copy of The Novellino’s on line. I was surprised when two hard backed books arrived in my post box and was even more surprised to find that they were numbered, De Luxe editions. They had been privately printed in 1903 for members of the Aldus society in London and my copy was numbered 168 of the twelve hundred that had been printed. This was a first translation show more of the Novellino by W G Waters. I could find no information about the Aldus society although I suspect that they had taken their name from Aldus Manutius who was a renaissance printer in Venice who specialised in classic Greek texts.

The books are printed on good quality thick paper and some of the pages bear the Aldus watermark. They also feature 11 illustrations by E R Hughes; these take the form of sepia photographs of his original paintings. Hughes (1851 – 1914) was a Pre-Raphaelite painter who acted as an assistant to Holman Hunt and some of his work is still very popular with the poster buying public of today. My books came from the State University of New York: State Teachers college Main Library and I guess would have been withdrawn from the bookshelves some time ago and have been languishing in some second hand book shop ever since. My copies are missing the original leather binding and guilt lettering, but are otherwise in excellent condition.

Masuccio Salenitano (1410-1475) was a writer and collector of short stories; he was a courtier to Frederick I of Naples, a ruler described as cruel and treacherous as a tiger, brutal in speech, lustful and very avaricious. He had a habit of poisoning his most wealthy courtiers and then sequestering their lands and property for himself. His tyrannical rule did however keep the peace and literature flourished at this time. Masuccio distributed his stories amongst his friends and they were finally collected together and printed in 1476. It is not surprising to find they contain no criticism of Frederick I, but there is much invective against the Catholic church and the Papacy.

W G Waters translation is no bowdlerisation of the originals which outdoes Boccaccio in lasciviousness. These are for the most part bawdy tales with lustful women even more lustful friars and gentleman who are unable to control their passions and seek even more cunning and wonderful ways to have their way with the women of their dreams. Masuccio can tell a good story; he is fascinated by the art of seduction and is able to bring these stories to life, there is farce, there is tragedy and some real suspense in some of these tales.

The Novellino is a collection of fifty stories each one separate and with no attempt to provide an overall linking device as Boccaccio did in the Decameron. Each story begins with a dedication to some personage of note and usually a word of how the story might connect to them or serve as a warning to them and ends with a note by Masuccio himself, where he may take the opportunity to enhance the points made in the story or to tone the message down if he feels the need. Masuccio does group them together by theme and so the first ten stories castigate the catholic church and particularly the mendicant friars and at the end of this section Masuccio says that after being battered by troubled waters in his first ten novels, he will be sailing in calmer water for his next ten “In these I purpose to tell divers pleasurable jests, set forth in a strain which ought to give offence to no man.” Masuccio frequently turns to nautical metaphors to make his points. After these more light hearted tales he turns his attention to women and warns that “in this (the third part) the female sex so full of failings will be handled cruelly.” No punches are pulled in these tales and the author does not fail to ram home his points with his commentaries

“But why do I go about here and there, and thwart my fancy by writing anent the infinite meanness and treachery and wickedness of womankind? In sooth, it would be an easier task to number the stars of heaven…… How many more of these women of honeyed speech are there amongst us who by means of frauds like the aforesaid, and even greater, might easily beguile another Solomon? Amongst others are those who feign to be given up entirely to things of the spirit, women whose conversation is ever with priests and monks, talking of naught else but the beatitude of life eternal, and, with many other tricks and manners full of hypocrisy and superstition enough to make themselves a cause of offence to God and man, they deceive everyone who may put faith in their falseness” :

Part four is made up of tales of tragedy, but each one is interspersed with a lighter story as Musaccio explains that otherwise they would be too depressing. It is in these tragic tales that the power of Masaccio’s writing comes to the fore. In the fifth and final part the theme is virtue and Musaccio foregrounds this where possible in tales from recent history. These would have appealed to his audience, but also Musaccio can take the opportunity to spell out the virtues that man should strive for. There are cautious nods to love of ones fellow man and respect for other peoples religion here.

These little novels are well worth reading; they can be funny, they can be tragic, often they are bawdy, many are inventive and do not fail to give a lively picture of medieval and renaissance life. They tend to look back to the middle ages rather than forward to the renaissance with an equal split of stories concerning courtly love and chivalry and the more down to earth tales of town folk. Musaccio claims that all his novels are true and indeed they are rooted in every day existence. They are a cracking good read and they can be read on line for free, but I love my hard back editions.
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