The elaboration of the image of Constance of Hauteville between the 13th and 14th centuries. Crosses of traditions between southern and central-northern chronicles, between Dante and Boccaccio
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Abstract
The figure of Constance of Hauteville has enjoyed good fortune in the literary imaginary. She is one of the protagonists of the Paradiso (Canto III), where Dante transmits some imaginative rumours: in particular, he spread the information that she was a nun. She remained unmarried for a long time, and gave birth to her only son, the future emperor Frederick II, when she was already 40 years old, although some sources increased her years up to 55 and beyond. Proba- bly this real piece of information generated the false rumour about the monastic condition of Constance, made immortal by Dante’s verses, by his most ancient commentators and by Boccaccio. In this article, we investigate the ways of spreading these stories, including the absolutely fantastic one that Costance gave birth to her child on a public square. They circulated above all in central-northern Italy, in the age of the clash that opposed the popes and the Comuni to Frederick II and his son Manfred, and they differ significantly from the ones transmitted by the chronicles of southern Italy.
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