Chiaro Davanzati
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Chiaro Davanzati (died 1304) was an Italian poet from Florence, one of the Siculo-Tuscan poets, who introduced the style of Sicilian School to the
Tuscan School Tuscan may refer to: Places * A person from, or something of, from, or related to Tuscany, a region of Italy * Tuscan Archipelago, islands off Tuscany, Italy. * Tuscan, South Australia was a railway siding and locality in the Murray Mallee regio ...
. He was one of the most prolific Italian authors before Dante: at least 122
sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
s and sixty-one ''
canzoni Literally "song" in Italian, a ''canzone'' (, plural: ''canzoni''; cognate with English ''to chant'') is an Italian or Provençal song or ballad. It is also used to describe a type of lyric which resembles a madrigal. Sometimes a composition ...
'' by Chiaro are known, many of them in ''
tenzone A ''tenso'' (; french: tençon) is a style of troubadour song. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position; common topics relate to love or ethics. Usually, the tenso is written by two different poets, but several examples ...
'' with other poets. Only Guittone d'Arezzo produced more lyrics in the thirteenth century. The Davanzati were an elite family in Florence. Chiaro participated in the Battle of Montaperti in 1260. There is some disagreement as to which of two known Chiaro Davanzatis of Florence might be the poet. One, ''Chiarus f. Davanzati pp. scte Marie Sopr' Arno'', of Santa Maria sopr' Arno, was dead by 1280. Another, ''Clarus F. Davanzati Banbakai'', was a Guelph of San Frediano. He served as captain of
Or San Michele Orsanmichele (; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word ''orto'') is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michel ...
in 1294 and died between August 1303 and the spring of 1304. Both Chiaros were married and had children. The poet could not have been dead by 1280, for he composed a ''tenzone'' that can be dated to 1283.H. Wayne Storey (2004), "Chiaro Davanzati", ''Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia'', Christopher Kleinhenz, ed. (London: Routledge), pp. 214–15. Most of Chiaro's work is preserved in the
chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...
Vaticano latino 3793. Topically his poetry is in the Sicilian and
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...
traditions. The chief poets whose influence can be detected are the troubadour
Rigaut de Berbezilh Rigaut de Berbezilh (also Berbezill or Barbesiu; french: Rigaud de Barbezieux, la, Rigaudus de Berbezillo) was a troubadour (fl. 1140–1163Aubrey, 8.Gaunt and Kay, 290.) of the petty nobility of Saintonge. He was a great influence on the Sici ...
and of the Sicilians Giacomo da Lentini, Guido delle Colonne, and Stefano Protonotaro. His style is light and easy ('' trobar leu''), and rich in simile. His use of simile, much of it drawn from the Occitan troubadours and medieval bestiaries, has been criticised as dry, unpoetic, and overused. In the fourteenth century his reputation declined considerably, as his method of elaborating old lyrics fell out of favour. One of his images, however, that of a child at a mirror (''come 'l fantin ca ne lo speglio smira''), was used even in the Renaissance. Kenneth McKenzie describes Chiaro's "style" as developing over time and containing widely divergent elements under opposing influences:
. . . at one period of his activity Chiaro decked his verse in plumes borrowed from the Provençal and Sicilian poets and from Guittone d'Arezzo; but there is great variety in his work; we find political poems, realistic poems in popular style, attempts at philosophy, and finally indications of the influence of Guinizelli and the '' dolce stil novo''.McKenzie, p. 212.
Though Chiaro has been placed with the ''guittoniani'', followers of Guittone d'Arezzo, before, only in the ''canzone'' ''Valer voria s'io mai fui validore'' does Chiaro address Guittone directly. When deviating from the ''trobar leu'' into more difficult and complex construction he is usually conversing with ''guittoniani'', such as Pallamidesse Bellindoti or Rinuccino, with Monte Andrea, his most common correspondent, or with Finfo del Buono. Chiaro had a correspondence with "Dante" according to the manuscripts, but this is regarded now as probably
Dante da Maiano __NOTOC__ Dante da Maiano was a late thirteenth-century poet who composed mainly sonnets in Italian and Occitan. He was an older contemporary of Dante Alighieri and active in Florence. He may have been a Provençal- or Auvergnat-speaker from Maill ...
, in 1283. In ''Di penne di paone'' ("Of the peacock's feathers") Chiaro accused Bonagiunta Orbicciani of plagiarising Giacomo da Lentini. In 1267 Chario composed ''Ahi dolze e gaia terra fiorentina'' to reprimand his fellow Florentines on the occasion of their surrendering of power to Charles I of Sicily, whom they made '' podestà'' while the
Ghibellines The Guelphs and Ghibellines (, , ; it, guelfi e ghibellini ) were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, rivalr ...
were sent into exile.


External links


"Davanzati, Chiaro".
2009-10-31) ''Microsoft Encarta Enciclopedia Online'' (2008).
''Quando lo mar tempesta'' by Chiaro Davanzati


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davanzati, Chiaro 1304 deaths 14th-century Italian poets Italian male poets Sonneteers Year of birth unknown