Bertoldo
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"I know of scarcely any celebrated novel or romance which exhibits the rise of the principal character from a low rank to a distinguished fortune by the force of talents. The Life of Bertoldo, however, describes the elevation of a peasant to the highest situation in his country, by a species of grotesque humour, and a singular ingenuity in extricating himself from the difficulties into which he is thrown by the malice of his enemies."--History of Fiction (1814) by John Colin Dunlop "At the close of the sixteenth century appeared a series of fictions distinct from the jest-books and legends, although somewhat allied to Robin Hood literature in celebrating heroes of the people. Thomas Deloney, "the balleting silke weaver," as Nash called him, deserves the credit of launching this genre, which differs from such a hero tale in low-life as Croce's Vita di Bertoldo in its larger use of realism."--The Literature of Roguery (1907) by Frank Wadleigh Chandler |
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Le sottilissime astuzie di Bertoldo is Giulio Cesare Croce's version of the popular hero Bertoldo. It was a popular story among the people of his time. Bertoldo is a story that had various versions in the Middle Ages taking place in the court of the king Alboin in either Verona or Pavia depending on the version. In its most organic version, that of Croce (Le sottilissime astutie di Bertoldo, 1606), Bertoldo is from Roverè. Some of its raunchy language was softened, as was the edge of revenge against the powerful commoner in some of the other variations. One of his sources for the story were the Dialogus Salomonis et Marcolphi.
To his first Bertoldo, Croce wrote a sequel called Le piacevoli et ridicolose simplicità di Bertoldino, 1608, (about the son of Bertoldo, in the charge of his mother Marcolfa). Later (1620), the abbot Adriano Banchieri wrote another sequel called Novella di Cacasenno, figliuolo del semplice Bertoldino. Since then the work of Croce is often published alongside under the title Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno from which three films were inspired under the same title in: 1936, 1954 and 1984 (the last by Mario Monicelli).
In Bertoldo, Croce may have shown his secret aspirations, the crude lout and the self-taught, the presence at court was his hope for his future with which he hoped to solve his problems. The liberty of thought and action that Bertoldo had at court may show Croce's desire to live vicariously through his character by having a patron, like many of his counterparts, but without having to pay homage to them.
