Il Guerrin Meschino

Il Guerrin Meschino is an Italian prose romance about a knight, written around 1410 by Andrea da Barberino, a storyteller and translator from French. The story is divided into eight books and was widely copied by hand before its first printed edition appeared in Padua in 1473. It belongs to the late tradition of the Matter of France and was popular with nobles and wealthy commoners. Unlike Andrea’s other works, this one has no clear French or Franco-Venetian source; instead, it reads like a travel account.

It borrows from earlier stories, such as the Alexander romances for the oracular Trees of the Sun and Moon, and from Dante’s Divine Comedy, medieval bestiaries, the legend of St. Patrick’s Purgatory, and Ptolemy’s cosmology. The hero, Guerrino, searches for his missing parents. His name hints at a critique of chivalry: “Guerrino” comes from “guerra” (war), but “Meschino” means shabby or ignoble. Sold by pirates as a baby and renamed by his foster father Meschino, he rises through his deeds to become a true warrior.

At the end, he learns he is the son of Milone, Duke of Durazzo, and thus of royal blood. Guerrino is the only main character; others appear only when they meet him. The adventures create a fictional geography centered on the Mediterranean. His stay in the Sibyl’s cave resembles the Germanic Tannhäuser legend.

Prester John appears, offering Guerrino rule over half of India after a battle. Most challenges are moral, not military, even in non-Christian settings like the sanctuary of the Trees of the Sun and Moon. Like Dante, Guerrino sees Purgatory. The Church later censored the work, removing references to the Apennine Sibyl and an entire chapter on classical Sibyls. A critical edition based on 1400s Florentine manuscripts was published in 2005.