Abbot of Tivoli

The Abbot of Tivoli (Italian: Abate di Tivoli) was an Italian poet of the thirteenth century. His birth and death dates are not known, but he was alive at least between 1230 and 1250.

Only three of his sonnets are known, written as an exchange in tenzone with Giacomo da Lentini, concerning the nature of love.^[1][2] The abbot argues a conventional perspective on love: "the abbot predictably complains of unrequited love and pledges his fidelity to the god of love in the hope that the lady, like himself, will be stricken by love's arrow."^[3] They were probably composed in Tivoli in 1241, the year that the emperor Frederick II resided there. Some believe that his real name was Walter, laicus de urbe, who was loyal to Pope Innocent IV (who mentions him in a letter dated 1250 as a "pious" supporter).^[4]

References

Notes

1. Bondanella 255, 551.
2. Kleinhenz 62-64.
3. Bondanella 255.
4. La letteratura italiana vol. 1, pag. 109, Edizione speciale per il Corriere della Sera, R.C.S. Quotidiani S.p.A., Milano 2005; Titolo dell'opera originale: Natalino Sapegno ed Emilio Cecchi (diretta da) Storia della letteratura italiana, Garzanti Grandi opere, Milano 2001 e De Agostini Editore, Novara 2005, ISSN 1824-9280

Bibliography

• R. Antonelli, ed. (1979). "Sonetti". Giacomo da Lentini. Poesie. Rome.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Peter Bondanella, Julia Conaway Bondanella, ed. (1996). Cassell dictionary of Italian literature. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-304-70464-4.
• Kleinhenz, Christopher (1986). The early Italian sonnet: the first century (1220-1321). Milella. ISBN 978-88-7048-122-8.

External links

• Abate di Tivoli; it.wikisource.org