Il verso volgare di Bonvesin da la Riva

Abstract Despite Contini’s exemplary edition (1941), the linguistic and textual form of Bonvesin da la Riva’s poems must still be regarded as unresolved in many respects. The dual hypothesis of dialectal authenticity and the absolute regularity of the metre has led to significant interventions in the transmitted texts in the past. This paper first provides a critical appraisal of the relevant discussion since Salvioni (1911). It then highlights some problematic aspects of the editions by Contini (1941 and 1960) and Gökçen (1996 and 2001). The subsequently developed proposal assigns an essential role to the rhythmic structure of Bonvesin da la Riva’s verses. Our hypothesis is that deviations from the 7 + 7 scheme of the alexandrine are tolerated because the identity of the hemistich is also based on the sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables, whereas unstressed syllables can be absent at the beginning of the verse and doubled within the verse. The proposal also has implications for our understanding of the diachrony of the loss of unstressed final vowels in Milanese. These were apparently preserved over a longer period of time than previously assumed. Using a series of examples from the new edition of the Scrigiura rossa , it is finally demonstrated to what extent the hypothesis proposed here allows the identification and partial correction of textual corruptions in the 15th-century manuscripts.