Maria Esposito Frank, Department of English and Modern Languages, announces the publication of “The Historical Background of Decameron I. 2: Abraam Giudeo’s Decision to Go to Rome” - Studi sul Boccaccio, vol. 51, 2023, pp. 131-173.
It is a detailed essay that reconstructs the historical, economic, and religious context of the second novella of the Decameron (Decameron I. 2) to shed new light on its protagonists’ outlook and actions.
Set against the backdrop of 13th-century Paris, with its thriving cultural and business enterprises, the story of Abraham the Jew and Giannotto seems to point at historical events, epochal in scope, concerning the relations between, on the one hand, Papal authority, prelates’ authority, the French political power and the University of Paris, and, on the other hand, the Jewish communities in Contemporary France. After Giannotto’s last proselytizing attempt, Abraham’s decision to go to Rome speaks volumes about ongoing episodes of anti-Judaism that Boccaccio’s text makes tacitly known.