List of literary descriptions of cities (before 1550)

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Initial folio of De laude Cestrie, a c.1195 eulogy to the English town of Chester

Literary descriptions of cities (also known as urban descriptiones) form a literary genre that originated in Ancient Greek epideictic rhetoric.[1][2][3][4] They can be prose or poetry. Many take the form of an urban eulogy (variously referred to as an encomium urbis, laudes urbium, encomium civis, laus civis, laudes civitatum; or in English: urban or city encomium, panegyric, laudation or praise poem) which praise their subject.[2][3][4][5] Laments to a city's past glories are sometimes also included in the genre.[3][4] Descriptiones often mix topographical information with abstract material on the spiritual and legal aspects of the town or city, and with social observations on its inhabitants.[1][4] They generally give a more extended treatment of their urban subject than is found in an encyclopedia or general geographical work. Influential examples include Benedict's Mirabilia Urbis Romae of around 1143.[1]

The Greek rhetorician

medieval authors.[3]

Surviving late Roman examples of descriptiones include Ausonius's Ordo Nobilium Urbium, a fourth-century Latin poem that briefly describes thirteen cities including Milan and Bordeaux.[1][3] Rutilius Namatianus's De reditu suo is a longer poem dating from the early fifth century that includes a section praising Rome.[3]

Numerous medieval examples have survived, mainly but not exclusively in Latin, the earliest dating from the eighth century.[1][3] They adapt the classical form to Christian theology.[1][2][3][5] The form was popularised by widely circulated guidebooks intended for pilgrims.[1] Common topics include the city walls and gates, markets, churches and local saints; descriptiones were sometimes written as a preface to the biography of a saint.[1] The earliest examples are in verse. The first known prose example was written in around the tenth century, and later medieval examples were more often written in prose.[1] Milan and Rome are the most frequent subjects, and there are also examples describing many other Italian cities.[1] Outside Italy, pre-1400 examples are known for Chester, Durham, London, York and perhaps Bath in England,[1][2][3][6] Newborough in Wales,[2] and Angers, Paris and Senlis in France.[1][7] The form spread to Germany in the first half of the 15th century, with Nuremberg being the most commonly described city.[8]

J. K. Hyde, who surveyed the genre in 1966, considers the evolution of descriptiones written before 1400 to reflect "the growth of cities and the rising culture and self-confidence of the citizens", rather than any literary progression.[1] Later medieval examples tend to be more detailed and less generic than early ones, and to place an increasing emphasis on secular over religious aspects. For example, Bonvesin della Riva's 1288 description of Milan, De Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani, contains a wealth of detailed facts and statistics about such matters as local crops. These trends were continued in Renaissance descriptiones, which flourished from the early years of the 15th century,[1] especially after the popularisation of the printing press from the middle of that century.[8]

Selected examples

The following chronological list presents urban descriptions and eulogies written before the end of the 14th century, based mainly on the reviews of Hyde[1] and Margaret Schlauch,[3] with a selection from the many examples written from 1400 to 1550.

Title Date Author City Country Format Language Notes
Antiochicus
c. 360
 Libanius Antioch Syria Prose Latin Also called Oration in Praise of Antioch, this is Libanius' Oration XI.[9]: 23 
Ordo Nobilium Urbium
4th century
 Ausonius Various Poetry Latin [1][3]
De reditu suo
Early 5th century
 Rutilius Namatianus Rome Italy Poetry Latin [3]
Laudes Mediolanensis civitatis
~738
 Milan Italy Poetry Latin Or Versum de Mediolano civitate[1][3][10]
De laude Pampilone epistola
7th century
 Pamplona Spain Prose Latin The laudatio is known from a composite with an unrelated text dating from c. 410[11]
Versiculi familiae Benchuir
8th century
 Bangor Ireland Poetry Latin The Versiculi form a "religios laus civitatis in praise of a monastic community.[12]
Poema de Pontificibus et Sanctis Eboracensis Ecclesiae
Early or mid-780s
 Alcuin York England Poetry Latin [3][13]
Versus de Destructione Aquileiae
Late 8th century
 Paulinus of Aquileia or Paul the Deacon Aquileia Italy Poetry Latin Attribution disputed[3][10]
Laudes Veronensis Civitatis
796–806
 Verona Italy Poetry Latin Or Veronae rhythmica, Versus de Verona[1][3][10]
The Ruin
8th – late 9th century
 An unnamed Roman spa, probably Bath England Poetry Old English Date uncertain; subject has also been suggested to be Chester or a town near Hadrian's Wall[6][14]
Versus de Aquilegia
844–855
 Aquileia Italy Poetry Latin [3]
De Situ Civitatis Mediolani
~780–1000
 Milan Italy Prose Latin Or De situ urbis Mediolanensis[1]
Durham
Mid-11th century to ~1107
 Durham England Poetry Old English Or De situ Dunelmi; date disputed[3][6][15]
Liber Pergaminus
1112–33
 Moses de Brolo Bergamo Italy Poetry Latin [1]
Mirabilia Urbis Romae
~1140–43
 Benedict Rome Italy Prose Latin [1][4]
Descriptio Nobilissimae Civitatis Londoniae
1173–74
 William Fitzstephen London England Prose Latin Or Descriptio Nobilissimi Civitatis Londoniae[1][2][4][7]
De mirabilibus urbis Romae
1150–1200
 Master Gregory Rome Italy Latin [1][4]
De laude Cestrie
~1195
 Lucian of Chester Chester England Prose Latin Or Liber Luciani de laude Cestrie[1][5][7]
In Ymagines historiarum
~1180–1200
 Ralph de Diceto Angers Angevin Empire Prose Latin [7]
Graphia Aureae Urbis Romae
~1154–1280
 Rome Italy Latin [1]
De Laude Civitatis Laude
~1253–59
 An unnamed Franciscan Lodi Italy Poetry Latin [1]
Liber de preconiis ciuitatis Numantine
1282
 Juan Gil de Zamora Zamora Spain Prose Latin [16]
De Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani
1288
 Bonvesin della Riva Milan Italy Prose Latin [1]
De Mediolano Florentissima Civitate
~1316
 Benzo d'Alessandria Milan Italy Prose Latin [1]
Visio Egidii Regis Patavii
~1318
 Giovanni da Nono Padua Italy Prose Latin [1]
Byzantios post 1312 Theodore Metochites Constantinople Byzantium Prose Greek
Recommentatio Civitatis Parisiensis
1323
 Paris France Prose Latin [1]
Tractatus de Laudibus Parisius
1323
Jean de Jandun
 Paris, Senlis France Prose Latin Written in response to Recommentatio Civitatis Parisiensis[1]
Libellus de Descriptione Papie
1330
 Opicino de Canistris Pavia Italy Prose Latin Or Liber de laudibus civitatis Ticinensis[1]
Polistoria de virtutibus et dotibus Romanorum
1320–46
 Giovanni Caballini Rome Italy Prose Latin [17][18]
Cronaca Extravagans
1329–39
 Galvano Fiamma Milan Italy Prose Latin Contains material from Bonvesin della Riva's text[1]
Cronica Book XI
1338
 Giovanni Villani Florence Italy Prose Italian [1]
Florentie Urbis et Reipublice Descriptio
1339
 Florence Italy Prose Latin Manuscript is untitled[1]
Cywydd Rhosyr
Mid 14th century
 Dafydd ap Gwilym Newborough Wales Poetry Welsh Date and attribution uncertain[2][19]
Laudatio florentinae urbis
~1400
 Leonardo Bruni Florence Italy Prose Latin [1]
Laudatio Urbis Romae et Constantinopolis
~1411
 Manuel Chrysoloras Rome Italy Prose Greek [20]
"O wunnikliches Paradis"
1414–18 or after 1430
 Oswald von Wolkenstein Konstanz Holy Roman Empire Poetry German Von Wolkenstein also wrote poems on other cities, including
Augsberg[21]
Descriptio urbis Romae eiusque excellentiae
~1430
 Niccolò Signorili Rome Italy Prose Latin [20][22]
Roma instaurata
1446
 Flavio Biondo Rome Italy Prose Latin [22][23][24]
Lobspruch auf Nürnberg
1447
 Hans Rosenplüt [de] Nuremberg Germany Poetry German [8][17][25]
Ye Solace of Pilgrimes
~1450
 John Capgrave Rome Italy Prose Middle English [4]
Canmol Croesoswallt
Mid 15th century
 Guto'r Glyn Oswestry England Poetry Welsh [2][19][26]
I Varedydd ab Hywel ab Morus, ac i Drev Croes Oswallt
Mid 15th century
 Lewys Glyn Cothi Oswestry England Poetry Welsh [2][19]
"Y ddewistref ddiestron"
Mid 15th century
 Ieuan ap Gruffudd Leiaf Conwy Wales Poetry Welsh [2][19]
Die Bamberger Traktate
1452
 Albrecht von Eyb Bamberg Germany Latin [8]
"[What a splendid appearance this city presents!]"
Late 1450s
Enea Silvio Piccolomini
 Nuremberg Germany Prose Latin [17][25]
Lobspruch auf Bamberg
~1459
 Hans Rosenplüt [de] Bamberg Germany Poetry German [8]
Brodyr aeth i Baradwys
Late 15th century
 Ieuan ap Huw Cae Llwyd [cy] Brecon Wales Poetry Welsh [2][19]
"Cistiau da, 'n costio dierth"
End of the 15th century
 Tudur Aled Oswestry England Poetry Welsh [2][19]
Lobspruch auf Nürnberg
~1490–92
 Kunz Hass Nuremberg Germany Poetry German [8][17][25]
De Venetae urbis situ / Del sito di Vinegia
1492
 Marcantonio Sabellico Venice Italy Prose Latin, Italian [27][28][29][30]
De origine, situ, moribus et institutis Norimbergae
~1492–96
 Conrad Celtis Nuremberg Germany Prose Latin [8][17][25]
To the City of London
~1501
 Sometimes attributed to William Dunbar London England Poetry English Or In Honour of the City of London[2]
It is the basis for the cantata In Honour of the City of London (1937).[31]
Tractatus de civitate Ulmensi
By 1502
 Felix Fabri Ulm Germany Latin [8]
Blyth Aberdeane
~1511
 William Dunbar Aberdeen Scotland Poetry Middle Scots [2]
Ein Lobspruch der statt Nürnberg
~1530
 Hans Sachs Nuremberg Germany Poetry German Sachs also wrote praise poems to Salzburg (1549), Munich (1565), Frankfurt (1568) and Hamburg (1569)[8][17][21][25]
Ein Lobspruch der Hochloeblichen weitberuembten Khuenigklichen Stat Wienn in Osterreich
1547
 Wolfgang Schmeltzl [de] Vienna Austria Poetry German [8]

See also

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.7227/BJRL.48.2.5
  2. ^
    JSTOR 40732051
  3. ^
    JSTOR 27704714
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-3110223897
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1783164615
  6. ^ a b c Christopher Abram (2000), "In Search of Lost Time: Aldhelm and The Ruin" (PDF), Quaestio (Selected Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic), 1: 23–44
  7. ^
    S2CID 163505360
  8. ^
    doi:10.7227/BJRL.72.3.4
  9. ^ Paul Oldfield (2019), Urban Panegyric and the Transformation of the Medieval City, 1100–1300, Oxford University Press.
  10. ^
    ISBN 1859284213
  11. ^ Roger Collins (1986), The Basques, Blackwell, pp. 67–69
  12. ^ Paolo Zanna (1991), "Descriptiones urbium and Elegy in Latin and Vernaculars in the Early Middle Ages: At the Crossroads Between Civic Engagement, Artistic Enthusiasm and Religious Meditation", Studi medievali, Ser. 3, 32: 523–596.
  13. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/298. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  14. ISBN 0773522417
  15. JSTOR 27714086
  16. ^ Paul Oldfield (2019), Urban Panegyric and the Transformation of the Medieval City, 1100–1300, Oxford University Press, p. 32n, also citing Jeffrey S. Ruth (2011), Urban Honor in Spain: The Laus Urbis from Antiquity Through Humanism, Lewiston{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  17. ^
    ISBN 978-3110223897
  18. JSTOR 30222468
  19. ^
    ISBN 978-0708323526
  20. ^
    ISBN 0253334918
  21. ^
    ISBN 978-3110223897
  22. ^
    ISBN 978-0674726154
  23. JSTOR 20680045
  24. S2CID 163197187
  25. ^
    ISBN 1571133453
  26. ISBN 978-0862439712
  27. S2CID 225087287
    .
  28. ISBN 978-88-940999-0-4
    .
  29. ^ full Latin text at https://archive.org/details/ita-bnc-in2-00000924-001
  30. ^ Mazzaferro, Giovanni (February 2017). "Review of Maurizio Vittoria, ed., Marco Antonio Sabellico: Del sito di Vinegia; La più antica guida di Venezia 'On the Site of Venice; the Oldest Guide to Venice'". Letteratura Artistica: Cross-cultural Studies in Art History Sources.
  31. ^ Joyce Kennedy; Michael Kennedy; Tim Rutherford-Johnson, eds. (2012), "In Honour of the City of London", The Oxford Dictionary of Music (6th ed.), Oxford University Press.
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