Sur les traces de Darès le Phrygien dans l'Occident médiéval

Abstract

This paper surveys the medieval dissemination of De Excidio Troiae, written by Pseudo-Dares Phrygius, in an attempt to identify some of the reasons for its success. The first section introduces this text, an alleged eye-witness account of the Trojan War. In the second part, the history of the manuscript tradition is presented, paying attention to the places where this text was copied. The reception of this work can be divided into three stages: first, before the Norman Conquest of England, Dares was diffused in the regions where the Carolingian Renaissance flourished. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Dares was present mainly in France and England. During the late Middle Ages, the De Excidio Troiae was criticized by Italian humanists, but this criticism did not prevent the dissemination of this work in contemporary Italy and Germany. The history of the manuscript tradition allows us to put forward a hypothesis: beyond its inherent qualities, the historia benefited from the ambiguity of its status and the multi-layered stratification of the sources about the Trojan War.