Carlo d’Angiò e poesia antiangioina: prove di nascita di un’identità europea

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate how Charles I of Anjou’s figure and government affected the development of a European cultural and political identity between 1246 and 1285. In fact, the features of anti-Angevin literature (whose major promoters were Occitan troubadours) confirm the existence of a common awareness of political instability and of a widespread feeling of opposition to Charles. In this sense, the fact that different authors used similar recurring forms, themes and rhetorical strategies at the same time suggests the existence of a European identity. New data are given to corroborate this hypothesis, such as the position of German Minnesänger, Austorc de Segret and Ricaut Bonomel (active in the Holy Land), as well as the involvement of European kings (such as Peter III of Aragon, Alfonso X of Castile and Edward I of England) in the context of anti-Angevin poetry.