L'Artus de Modène, la winlogee volée et le commanditaire mystérieux

Vladimir Agrigoroaei (1)

1 CESCM [Poitiers] - Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale [UMR 7302]

Starting with a presentation of the previous hypotheses dealing with the Modena archivolt, the article focuses upon the patrons as means of explaining the arrival of the Arthurian legend at Modena. It also craves to explain the striking compositional similarities between the Modena and Bari archivolts. The author rejects Loomis’ identification of the patron, since it does not substantiate the transfer of the Arthurian tale from Bari to Modena; he also rejects another hypothesis concerning the pilgrim road. Via Francigena because of the archivolt’s uniqueness, which might point to a particular context, not to a ‘social’ pattern. The author then takes an interest in the presence of four names in the acts of Modena: Arthur, Roland, Bohemond and Tancred. He explores the prestige of Bohemond of Antioch in the Lombard milieu of the beginning of the XIIth century. In the end, after providing and linking various pieces of evidence, he believes the Modena archivolt’s patrons could have met an Anglo-Norman group of knights at Bari, where they had lived for one year and a half (1106-1107), waiting for prince Bohemond’s campaign into the Balkans. The Modena archivolt could in fact be a synthesis between a French tale and the Bari archivolt, whose story has nothing to do with king Arthur.

Mots clés: 12th century; Arthurian legend; Modena archivolt

Domaines: Histoire; Art et histoire de l'art

Vladimir Agrigoroaei. L'Artus de Modène, la winlogee volée et le commanditaire mystérieux. Actes du colloque international de la Branche roumaine de la Société Internationale Arthurienne, May 2010, Bucarest, Roumanie. ⟨halshs-01234948⟩