WRITTEN AND ORAL TESTIMONIES IN MEDIEVAL CHRONICLES: MATTHEW PARIS AND GIOVANNI VILLANI

This paper reconsiders the accuracy of current historiographical premises with regard to the Chronica Majora of Matthew Paris and the Cronica or History of Florence of Giovanni Villani. When these chroniclers refer to oral situations, such as a dialogue between two or more people, to what degree did they themselves witness the situation that they describe, or did they enjoy the services of a firsthand source? A reconsideration of these questions advances our understanding of the challenges inherent in late-medieval chronicles as a source of orality and clarifies some methodological issues. Furthermore, analysis of these sources allows the conclusion that oral addresses mainly served to manipulate existing feelings, whether hatred, fear, latent antagonism, or unlimited support. Indeed, imagination, rhetoric, manipulation, idioms, stereotypes and the whole spectrum of human emotions were all encapsulated in the oral reports included in medieval chronicles. As such, they provide an important link between orality and literacy, one that is deserving of further investigation.