Ressenya
Duoda, Countess of Barcelona and Girona and Duchess of Septimania, was born c. 810 and died c. 843. She was married to Bernard of Septimania, who had a daughter and two sons, who were held hostage for political reasons. The Liber manualis (Manual for my son) testifies to his vast knowledge for the time, for example, paraphrased Pliny the Naturalist, Donat, Amoni, as well as countless biblical passages. In this book she is shown as a woman with a high degree of self-awareness, refined sensitivity, great sensitivity and measure in expressing suffering from the separation of her two children, and the whole text betrays a sense of tragic loneliness. The Liber Manualis is not only the work of a mother who wants to teach and advise her son, but the work of a grandmother. Duoda's work constitutes the first pedagogy treatise written by a woman in the early Middle Ages. Duoda's life is that of many mothers, wives and women of combatants who have suffered the solitude and contradiction between the desire for success of their men and children, and the burning desire for peace.
The text is written in Latin, the language cultivated at the time. It does so in unorthodox Latin compared to that used by the clergy and the literate people after the Carolingian Renaissance. The author's Latin adds words of Germanic and Greek origin that may come from ancient texts translated into Latin, such as the Bible.
Duoda performs this work not only as a collection of moral advice, but by speaking of his feelings, thoughts, longings, emotions, beliefs, hopes, from a totally subjective point of view, which is unusual for the time, as the first person hardly appears in medieval texts.
Justificacions
- Dhuoda belonged to the high nobility. She had a strong training in several disciplines and was a cultured reader.
- Her Liber Manualis (A handbook for my son) is the oldest preserved educational treatise written by a woman in the Middle Ages.
- The Liber Manualis holds a highlighted place in the history of literature, like the poetic disposition of several passages or the vast knowledge shown by the author.
- The Liber Manualis is an essential document to understand the mindset and religiosity of the Carolingian period.
- It is written in the first person, an unused narrative voice in medieval texts.
Biografia
Dhuoda was a lady of noble family origin (French or Catalan). She was married in 824 to Bernard of Septimania, son of William of Toulouse (the cousin of Charlemagne). By this marriage, Duoda became Duchess of Septimania and Countess of Barcelona, Girona, Osona, Rosselló and Empúries. Her husband was the most powerful man in the south of the Empire and this circumstance led him to become involved in the Carolingian crisis over the succession of Emperor Louis the Pious (814–840). In November 826, his first son William was born. Fourteen years later, in 840, in the midst of a very delicate political climate, Bernat briefly returned to his wife in Usès and the following year the second son of him and Duoda was born, Bernat. Three months after this birth, before Bernat had received the baptism, the father decided to leave, citing political motives. He and the two sons had to move with him, which they did, leaving Duoda alone. The eldest son, William, was sent as proof of Bernard's loyalty to the court of Charles the Bald, son and successor (840–77) of Louis the Pious. Bernard, a few months old, was sent to the court of Aquitaine.
During this period Duoda, probably sad, worried and powerless in the face of the will of a husband who separated her from the children, wanted to make some that kept her bond. She began writing a Manual for his education, the Liber Manualis Dhuodane quem ad filium suum transmisit Wilhelmum, which Duoda could read when he was older. In these circumstances, she retired to his castle in Usès (west of Pont du Garde), and began to write the Liber manualis, a copy of which is now preserved in the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Ms. 569, folios 57 to 88).
Duoda (also spelled Dhuoda) was a noble woman of her time who had to experience dramatic and shocking events, such as the separation of children for political reasons, but, however, stands out for a personality of extreme wealth and for her great cultural training. The Liber manualis (Manual for my son), written in Latin, is undoubtedly a unique document for understanding the mentality and religious feelings of the Carolingian era. It seems to be written from a rational perspective and with an educational intention: faced with the adversity and remoteness of the children, the author provides a solution, which is to write spiritual advice, biblical knowledge, and a few classics, to pass them on to their descendants (although never being present) through the letters. The pedagogical vocation of the work relates it to the genre that will later be called the "speculum princeps".
Dhuoda has been said to write as a mother, who wants her children to remember her and knows what she thought of the world or, at least, what she thought might make them happy. He also wrote about his own fragility and fears regarding his safety. But the truth is that the pedagogical vocation permeates the Liber Manualis, which becomes a guide to being a good vassal, that is to say, to sailing in politics and society without wrecking and, at the same time, being a good Christian. She died shortly after completing his work, around 843.
Bibliografia
Gabriel i Sirvent, Pere, i altres (1999). Història de la cultura. Tom I. L'esplendor medieval. Segles XI-XV. Cap. «El saber i les lletres». Barcelona: Edicions 62.
Bondurand, Édouard (1978). Le Manuel de Dhuoda. Ginebra: Mégariotis reprints.
Otero, Mercè (2004). Duoda, Comtessa de Barcelona. Manual per al seu fill. Barcelona: Proa.
Otero, Mercè. Duoda (1989). Comtessa de Barcelona. De mare a fill: escrits d'una dona del S. IX. Barcelona: La Sal.
Portet, Renada Laura (2008). Duoda, comtessa de Barcelona. Barcelona: Dalmau Editors.
Portet, Renada-Laura (2003). El Mirall de Duoda: comtessa de Barcelona, Duquesa de Septimània. Péronnas: Éditions de la Tour Gile.
Viquipèdia, https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duoda (17-02-2022).
Bilbioteca nacional de França, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10015980d/f8.item.zoom (17-02-2022).
Club Cultural Centreeuropeu, https://www.centroeuropeo.com/blog/duoda-comtessa-mare-i-escriptora (17-02-2022).
Interreg POCTEFA, https://catcar.iec.cat/duoda-una-mare-del-segle-ix/ (17-02-2022).
Enfocament Didàctic
The author can be included in the Valencian subjects: Language and Literature and Catalan Language and Literature, and can be studied in different curricular blocks: Listening and speaking, reading and writing and Literary Education (High Middle Ages, prose).
As the original text is in Latin, one can work on the subjects linked to these subjects.
For the approach and topics covered, it is a text for subjects of ethics and philosophy.
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