Griselda Between Boccaccio and Petrarch

Abstract The focus of the paper is Petrarch's Latin translation of Boccaccio's Griselda, the last tale of the last day of the Decameron (X, x). The translation became popular in Europe and was eventually adapted by Chaucer in his “Clerk's Tale.” Petrarch's translation, however, departs substantially from Boccaccio's original story, and the scholars have been divided ever since as to whether the translation is an improvement on the tale, or a censored version of it. The paper examines the critical reception of Petrarch's translation, as well as its implications on the reading of the Griselda story in Petrarch and Boccaccio.