The Decameron · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide scholarly annotations, clarifications, and contextual explanations for terms, references, and passages within the Decameron, including historical figures, linguistic notes, and cultural allusions.
What happens
The endnotes provide scholarly annotations, clarifications, and contextual explanations for terms, references, and passages within the Decameron, including historical figures, linguistic notes, and cultural allusions.
Key passages
“Valoroso nel suo mestiere. It does not appear that Martuccio was a craftsman and it is possible, therefore, that Boccaccio intended the word mestiere to be taken in the sense (to me unknown) of 'condition' or 'estate,' in which case the passage would read, 'a man of worth for (i.e. as far as comported with) his [mean] estate'; and this seems a probable reading.”
The phrase 'valorous in his trade' may actually mean 'a man of worth given his humble station,' since Martuccio was not a craftsman.
Clarifies a translation ambiguity regarding Martuccio's social standing.
“Clement V early in the fourteenth century removed the Papal See to Avignon, where it continued to be during the reigns of the five succeeding Popes, Rome being in the meantime abandoned by the Papal Court, till Gregory XI, in the year 1376 again took up his residence at the latter city.”
The papacy was based in Avignon from the early 1300s until 1376, when Gregory XI returned to Rome.
Provides historical context for the Avignon papacy referenced in the text.
“Gianni (Giovanni) di Procida was a Sicilian noble, to whose efforts in stirring up the island to revolt against Charles of Anjou was mainly due the popular rising known as the Sicilian Vespers (AD 1283) which expelled the French usurper from Sicily and transferred the crown to the house of Arragon.”
Giovanni di Procida helped incite the Sicilian Vespers revolt in 1283, which drove out the French and gave Sicily to the Aragonese.
Explains the historical role of Gianni di Procida.