MST202 Assignment 2 - Decameron (Day 10, Story 9) - Reed Bedford

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Introduction

Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron is a collection of tales, told by a set of ten narrators over the course of ten days (“The Decameron – Day 10, Story 9”, 608). The Decameron takes place during the black plague (1348-1351) and its stories encourage kindness and community (to contrast the destruction of social order during the plague). The ninth story of the tenth day of the Decameron follows Messer Torello, an Italian who shows incredible kindness to a complete stranger. This stranger turns out to be Saladin, the sultan of Egypt. Later in the story, Torello is captured by Saladin’s armies while on crusade in the Holy Land. Saladin eventually recognizes Torello and reciprocates his kindness (“The Decameron – Day 10, Story 9”, 636).

This exhibit outlines the path travelled by Messer Torello, from the moment he hosts Saladin in his home outside Pavia until he is returned to Lombardy and prevents his wife from remarrying.

Spaces

In Boccaccio’s tale of Messer Torello in the Decameron, he builds a variety of spaces, spanning the entire eastern Mediterranean. The spaces the author crafts would be best described as social spaces, rather than physical or spiritual spaces. The reader gets a sense of the location based on the reactions of the characters or the nature of the social interactions. For example, Saladin’s arrival at Torello’s home outside Pavia is:

“…[Torello’s] servants gathered around Saladin’s party, and as soon as they dismounted, took charge of the horses. Messer Torello then led the three gentlemen to the rooms that had been prepared for them. There, after they had been helped off with their boots, he offered them some deliciously cool wine as a refreshment and detained them with pleasant conversation until such time as they might to to supper” (“The Decameron – Day 10, Story 9”, 638)

Boccaccio does little to give physical descriptions of any of Torello’s home. Instead, the quality of treatment given to the Sultan is the focus. Instead of pointing out how the rooms were prepared for Saladin, Boccaccio jumps straight into a description of the social interactions that occur in the room (i.e. “pleasant conversation”) (“The Decameron – Day 10, Story 9”, 638). Throughout the tale, physical descriptions of spaces are limited to only those that give a better image of the generosity and kindness of the characters. For example, when Saladin is shown to his room, his bed is described as “comfortable” (“The Decameron – Day 10, Story 9”, 639). This physical description is used to show how well Torello is treating his guests, rather than simply giving the reader an idea of what the characters are looking at.

            The creation of social spaces rather than physical spaces is appropriate given the story’s context. The entire Decameron is set in a single location, with all spaces being described by narrators who remain stationary within the story, meaning the focus of the story is social interactions, not journeys. The storytellers are not travellers or pilgrims, they are refugees of a shattered social order (the plague) desperately searching for kindness, community, and safety (“The Decameron – Day 10, Story 9, 608”)(“The Decameron – Introduction”). Thus, it makes sense for the narrators to describe spaces in terms of emotions and social interactions, since that is what the narrators’ audience is interested in.

            Since the theme of the story of Messer Torello is how kindness and generosity lead to rewards and happiness, it is important to analyze the social worlds surrounding the characters, with physical locations simply being a device to create social situations. Pavia and Alexandria are jovial spaces, since both of those locations build a sense of community between the characters, who all desire to bring happiness to each other. Acre is the only location in the story where bad things happen to the characters. Acre is a distinct change in tone. The characters are brought to Acre by their desire to inflict violence upon each other, contrasting to the positive intentions of these same characters in Pavia and Alexandria. In Acre, there is a notable lack of social interaction, and the crusader army is hit by the plague, immediately followed by a defeat at the hands of Saladin (“The Decameron – Day 10, Story 9”, 642). With this brief passage, Boccaccio shows that characters intending on inflicting misery upon others will only receive misery themselves, whereas those who desire to help their fellow man will be rewarded for their kindness.

Digital Map

This digital map traces out the trajectory followed by Torello as he bounces from one setting to the next. Torello’s path is drawn on the Sawley world map (Augustodunensis) to give an impression of how a contemporary reader might have perceived the journey. Accompanying the key locations are objects that help demonstrate the story’s physical settings and the social exchanges between characters.

            The map starts outside Pavia, at an approximated location of Torello’s countryside home, where Saladin first encounters Messer Torello. It then follows Torello to his house within the city of Pavia, where he leaves his wife. Next it outlines Torello’s crusading experience, including his journey to the port of Genoa followed by his trip to Acre and his subsequent captivity in Alexandria. Then a linear trajectory is drawn between Alexandria and Pavia, to reflect the magical nature of Torello’s return. Then, a line is drawn representing the story’s conclusion, where he reunites with his wife and presents her ring.

            The objects associated with the key locations on the map track the status of social interactions within the story and reflect the rewards and consequences associated with each character’s social actions. At Torello’s countryside home, there is a chest displaying badges depicting Saladin’s visit, including one showing the sultan receiving robes as a gift, (“Scene of Messer Torello and Saladin”) which is the catalyst for all the other good things that happen to Torello later in the story. Next, in Pavia, the object is a ring, (“Signet-Ring/Intaglio”) which would bear a resemblance to the one that Torello would have received from his wife. This ring is a physical manifestation of the fantastic bond he has built with his wife, which is significant in the context of the Decameron, since it was a bond which was often broken during the plague. The third item is a historiated initial from a manuscript showing Saladin burning cities and taking prisoners (William of Tyre). This item gives an image of the karmic consequences for Torello’s choice to kill his fellow man. In addition, Torello’s fellow crusaders are stricken with illness, directly reflecting the context of the plague in Boccaccio’s time (which was thought to have been caused by God’s wrath over man’s sinfulness) (“The Decameron – Introduction”). The final two items, an Ayyubid coin (“Alloy Coin”) and the church of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, (Welleschik) both relate to the rewards for Torello’s earlier generosity to Saladin. Through his kindness to a complete stranger, Torello received physical rewards in the form of treasure (as illustrated by the coin) as well as the non-physical reward of returning home, (illustrated by the church) neither of which he would have received had he chosen to not help Saladin (if Saladin had never recognized him in Alexandria then he would have probably died in captivity).  

            In terms of story elements, making this map revealed little. However, constructing this map did provide insights on how the Decameron was written. When I first read the story, I did not make note of how the environments were described. However, after re-reading this story, I noticed that the message of generosity and community-building went far beyond just the characters’ actions but went as deep as the descriptions of the spaces those characters inhabit. As I have already mentioned above, Boccaccio chose to forgo most physical descriptions in place of focusing on social interactions. The most in-depth physical description in the entire tale is the description of the bed and treasure Saladin gives Torello, written with the purpose of showing Saladin’s generosity towards his friend. The physical world is used as a tool to help describe the social spaces the characters are inhabiting. I thought this was a very interesting insight, since it helped me better grasp how the stories of the Decameron relate to its central theme of rebuilding social orders destroyed by the plague.

            Digital mapping proved to be a very interesting exercise, both in terms of learning a new skill and in helping me develop a new understanding of the topics presented in this course. Before this assignment, I had no experience in archiving or digital mapping. It was surprising to learn how approachable and easy-to-use the two programs were. I would definitely consider using these programs in the future if presented with the opportunity. I liked how neatline allowed me to organize the parts of Messer Torello’s journey based on color (thus allowing me to say what each line means, rather than forcing the viewer to guess). Beyond simply practical knowledge, this experience also provided insights directly related to this course. A central theme of MST202 is how maps are primarily symbolic, reflecting “sacred/spiritual geographies” rather than just physical spaces. As such, it was interesting trying to outline a physical journey on a primarily symbolic map. For example, the physical journey of Torello’s boat ride to Acre around Italy’s coast puts his path directly through Charybdis and past the Scylla, (Augustodunensis) which reflect a mythological reality rather than a physical one. Essentially, this assignment asks students to incorrectly use a medieval map, since they were not designed with the intention of mapping routes or providing directions. However, having to make my character’s path cut through symbolic locations reminded me of the spiritual value of these maps. Acknowledging the sacred geographies of these maps serves as a reminder that medieval societies were not simply ignorant of world geography, but rather navigation was simply not a priority to medieval mapmakers.

Works Cited

Giovanni Boccaccio. “The Decameron – Day 10, Story 9”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Volume B. WW Norton and Company. 2012. New York.

Giovanni Boccaccio. “The Decameron – Introduction”. 1348-1353 (Trans 1921). Medieval Sourcebook. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/boccacio2.asp

Bruno Welleschik. "Pavia San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro". August 2007. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pavia_San_Pietro_in_Ciel_d%27Oro1.JPG&oldid=85489956

William of Tyre. “Histoire d’Outremer”. 1232-1261. MS Yates Thompson 12 f 161. British Library. http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8129&CollID=58&NStart=12

“Alloy Coin”. 1169-1193. BMC Oriental 4 276, p.73. The British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=897148&partId=1&searchText=saladin&images=true&from=ad&fromDate=1100&to=ad&toDate=1300&page=1

Honorius Augustodunensis. “Imago mundi”. 1190. MS 66, Part 1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://blog.metmuseum.org/penandparchment/exhibition-images/cat300r2_49e/

“Scene of Messer Torello and Saladin”. 1390. DA40846. Scala Archives. https://www.scalarchives.com/web/dettaglio_immagine.asp?idImmagine=DA40846&posizione=5&inCarrello=False&numImmagini=20&

“Signet-Ring/Intaglio”. 13th century. Dalton 1912 222 AF 554. The British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=50007&partId=1&searchText=ring&images=true&place=42023&from=ad&fromDate=1100&to=ad&toDate=1250&page=1