Through the LIBRARY it is possible to consult the data sheet of several important codices that enable to reconstruct the written culture of the patriarchate of Aquileia. Moreover, for many codices, the complete reproductions are made available, which makes this site a true virtual library of patriarchal Friuli.

Estoire del saint Graal

  • Late 13th century; parchment; mm 280 × 228; 1 folium*; illustrated (an inhabited initial).
  • Udine, Archivio di Stato, fragment 107.

The fragment, used by the notary Decio di Leonardo Deciani of Tolmezzo in the years 1598-99, contains episodes referable to the first part of the romance of the successful French prose anonymous cycle.

Though it serves as a prologue to the Arthurian age events (the narration deals with the Grail’s ‘journey’ from the East to the West, to Corbenic Castle in Great Britain, due to Joseph of Arimathea and his son, the bishop Josephés, as well as with Arthur’s ancestor’s conversion to Christianity, and with the knights of the Round Table), this prequel section was lately added to the original Lancelot-cycle core, only towards the first half of the thirteenth-century fourth decade. In the fragment queen Saracinte, identifiable by the crown on her head, is portrayed inside a capital C letter. The fragment is to be referred to the so called ‘long version’ of the romance that was, at least in its first part, the most followed in the handwritten copies of Italian tradition. It apparently belonged to a manuscript written towards 1290 by an amanuensis with linguistic habits of the northern Italian area, perhaps from western Veneto, who probably copied from a codex produced in the eastern area of France.

Country of locationItaly
LocationUdine
Library / CollectionArchivio di Stato
Shelfmarkframm. 107
Textual contentEstoire del saint Graal.
LanguagesOld french
Support materialParchment
Extent1 folium*
Formatmm 280 × 228
AgeLate 13th century
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