Date/Time
Date(s) - 22 Apr 2014
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Location
Hamilton Hall, Columbia University
Category(ies) No Categories
Prof. Karina Attar (Queens College, CUNY) will present a lecture entitled:
“How to Consort with the Enemy: Genoese Merchants and the Mamluks in Decameron II, 9”
on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at 12 noon
in 501 Hamilton Hall, Columbia University
(Amsterdam Ave. and 116th Street).
Abstract: In 1317, the Dominican Guillaume Adam accused the Genoese merchant Segurano Salvaygo of supplying the Mamluks with materials for warfare, acting as an intermediary with the Tartars, and recruiting Christians into such prohibited dealings. This paper investigates Segurano and his brother Ambrogio’s commercial activities as an additional possible source for Decameron II, 9. In this novella, a false accusation of adultery by her would-be lover Ambruogiuolo and a death sentence ordered by her husband Bernabò drive the steadfast Zinevra to adopt the guise of a Genoese merchant, Sicurano, and flee to Alexandria to work for the Mamluk Sultan. Extant evidence about the Salvaygos is limited but compelling for Boccaccio’s formulation of Zinevra’s alter-ego. Moreover, contextualizing the tale highlights the resilience and ingenuity of historical figures and fictional characters who challenge Church, State, and patriarchy in order to survive, make a living, and reclaim their honor in the fourteenth-century Mediterranean.