The Reinvented Romance: A Study of Manuscript BnF French 60

Keller, Natalie (2017) The Reinvented Romance: A Study of Manuscript BnF French 60. Undergraduate thesis, under the direction of Daniel O'Sullivan from Modern Languages, University of Mississipppi.

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Abstract

This thesis examines a fourteenth century manuscript of the Roman d’Enéas, currently held at the Bibliothèque nationale in France, for significant textual changes against the other surviving manuscripts. Careful study of the manuscript exposed considerable modifications to characterization and genre. Examination of the textual changes present in the manuscript, BnF 60, revealed an amplification of female figures and subtle developments of romance elements. In BnF 60 most changes occur in the exposition and the revised ending. The writer of this version appears to draw from copies of both the Roman d’Enéas and Virgil’s Aeneid. It demonstrates the inconsistencies present in manuscripts of the Roman d’Enéas. Illustrations in the manuscript reinforce the textual differences and connect the Roman d’Enéas to other romans d’antiquité. Themes of the illustrations range from chanson de geste to romance in representation of the text. The manuscript reinforces the view many scholars hold about the mixing of genre in medieval literature. In BnF 60 the Roman d’Enéas expands into a story focused on the love match that is part of a cycle of histories. The text indicates the importance of imitating Classical works to medieval France’s literary development.

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