|  |
| Toynbee "Clemenza" |
Clemence, either the widow or the daughter of
Charles Martel of Hungary, apostrophized by D. as bella
Clemenza,
[Par. ix. 1]
[Carlo_3]. There is considerable doubt as
to which Clemence D. is here addressing. Charles's widow, Clemence
of Habsburg, daughter of the Emperor Rudolf I, died in Feb. 1293,
probably in giving birth to the daughter named for her, who later
married Louis X of France, and at the assumed date of the Journey
was 7 years old. The large majority of commentators take the
reference to be to the daughter, since it is difficult to
understand how D., in his own person, could address, as still
living, Charles's widow, who had been dead some twenty years at the
time at which he was writing. On the other hand, D. refers to
Charles Martel in his apostrophe to Clemence as Carlo tuo
[Par. ix. 1]
which is an unusual and unnatural way of speaking to a
daughter of her father; not a few of the commentators, therefore,
decide in favour of the elder Clemence, including Pietro di Dante
(who, however, speaks of her as 'filia regis Alberti de Austria'),
and Benvenuto ('dirigens sermonem ad Clementiam uxorem Caroli,
auctor dicit . . . Carlo tuo, vir tuus pulcer dilectus').
[For a debate on the question, see P. Toynbee and A. J.
Butler, 'The Identity of Clemenza: "Paradiso" ix, 1', Athenaeum
(May 20, 1899), 626; (May 27, 1899), 658-659; and (June 3,
1899), 689; see also C. Minieri Riccio, 'Genealogia di
Carlo II d'Angio re di Napoli', Arch. stor. prov. napoletane,
vii (1882), 5-67.]
©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee
(1968) by permission of Oxford University Press