Carmen seu historia Carolo II cognomento Parvo
Rege Hungariae is a medieval account on the
political troubles under the reign of Queen Mary
(1382-1395), the only queen who ever ruled Hungary
in the Middle Ages. It is a 560-line Latin
hexametric epic, written in 1388 by the Venetian
poet, notary and chronicler, Lorenzo Monaci, who
fulfilled diplomatic missions in Hungary on multiple
occasions.
Both the poem and the dedicatory letter prefacing it
have been extensively used by scholars as historical
sources; no one, however, has ever analyzed it as a
literary product. This thesis deals with Monaci
Carmen as a literary construct. As such, the image
it conveys about Queen Mary, as well as about late
fourteenth-century Hungarian events, have been
contextualized and carefully deconstructed.
The book explores three different contexts: Monaci s
Venetian bias; Hungarian-Venetian diplomatic and
political relations; and the problems of female rule
in Angevin Hungary. The analysis deconstructs the
contrastive images of Queen Mary and her rival,
Charles of Durazzo in the Carmen, an outstanding
Gesamtkunstwerk of medieval historical literature.
Rege Hungariae is a medieval account on the
political troubles under the reign of Queen Mary
(1382-1395), the only queen who ever ruled Hungary
in the Middle Ages. It is a 560-line Latin
hexametric epic, written in 1388 by the Venetian
poet, notary and chronicler, Lorenzo Monaci, who
fulfilled diplomatic missions in Hungary on multiple
occasions.
Both the poem and the dedicatory letter prefacing it
have been extensively used by scholars as historical
sources; no one, however, has ever analyzed it as a
literary product. This thesis deals with Monaci
Carmen as a literary construct. As such, the image
it conveys about Queen Mary, as well as about late
fourteenth-century Hungarian events, have been
contextualized and carefully deconstructed.
The book explores three different contexts: Monaci s
Venetian bias; Hungarian-Venetian diplomatic and
political relations; and the problems of female rule
in Angevin Hungary. The analysis deconstructs the
contrastive images of Queen Mary and her rival,
Charles of Durazzo in the Carmen, an outstanding
Gesamtkunstwerk of medieval historical literature.