Saladin and his men are deeply impressed and can barely believe that an ordinary citizen would outshine even the emperor in his hospitality and generosity, which again finds an interesting parallel in Rudolf von Ems’s Der guote Gêrhart from ca. one hundred years earlier. Torello even introduces the strangers to his family and bonds with them in a most friendly manner, which underscores the ultimate value system that Boccaccio apparently pursued, herby demonstrating how much inner nobility, a strong character, ethics, and the like would matter more than any other external factors and could easily bond strangers with citizens, that is, foreigners with insiders. Of course, we do not know how Torello would have reacted if he had learned of Saladin’s true identity and of his religion, but this is simply not the case. We will observe, however, that even in that regard the central issue points into another direction, especially because the topic of the crusade comes into play soon thereafter once again. We need to keep in mind that Saladin intends to spy on his future enemies and disguises himself as a Cypriot merchant, but no one in Pavia ever cares about the visitor’s true identity since they recognize in him, from his comportment, his words, and his education, that he represents a worthy, noble, and honorable individual.
By the same token, Torello and his wife demonstrate the highest possible degree of hospitality, treating their guests with extraordinary generosity, heaping gifts of tremendous value upon them, simply upon the assumption that they are worthy Cypriot merchants. Saladin and his men are almost shamed in this regard; being treated almost as royalties, and they worry their disguise might have been lifted, which is not the case, however. The next morning they all receive new and splendid horses and are honored in every possible regard, which makes Saladin say to his companion that this merchant acts more royally than the best kings even in Babylon. In other words, Saladin demonstrates great respect for the Christian world, not because of the religious component, in which he shows no interest, but because of the noble quality of his host and the other citizens of Pavia.
When the time has finally arrived to take leave, Torello accompanies his guest far outside of the city, before he has to turn back, and he compliments them once again, now emphasizing that he does not believe them to be ordinary merchants, though he does not pry into their private lives and does not question their true identity. All that matters here is that the two men enjoy greatest respect for each other and compete in displaying their noble character. The entire scene proves to be a literary paean on the higher level of the merchant class in Italian Renaissance cities, but also on the Sultan Saladin as a perfectly knightly and chivalric character. There are no discussions about religion, cultural differences, or linguistic challenges; instead, the encounter between these two men is a showcase of ideal forms of friendship, hospitality, generosity, and honor, which all can easily bond people from different cultures and religions. Boccaccio continues, in other words, with his narrative agenda to portray human life in its highest possible stage of development, whether he presents a worthy Jew or a noble Muslim ruler. On a human level, everyone can share the same value system and form bonds of friendship across all cultural or religious boundaries. Even though Saladin was in no position to return the same generosity to his host, once he has parted from Messer Torello, he is burning with desire to demonstrate the same if not even better hospitality to him. We face, hence, two individuals who are most concerned with the nobility of character and ethical ideals, entirely unconcerned with religion or politics. The short scene can, thus, be read as a perfect example of lived tolerance, and this already in the fourteenth century.
Unfortunately, the external circumstances then change rapidly, with the crusading army being formed, which Torello joins, though not without trepidations, since the risk for his life would be unpredictable. Hence, he requests from his wife to wait for him at least one year, one month, and one day before she would marry another man, in the firm assumption of his death. Even though she insists that she would never even think of that, he assures her of the great pressure that her family would impose on her, and then leaves, with her shedding bitter tears and lamenting her great loss.
The next events develop very fast and quickly take us to the next crucial stage of the story. The crusading army in Acre is affected by an epidemic, and weakened, they are virtually all captured by Saladin’s troops. Torello is taken as a captive and brought to Alexandria, where he tries to hide his identity and is given the task of training the falcons and hawks, a masterful skill that he commands to perfection. The Sultan quickly notices this man and takes him to his court, employing him as his own falconer, without recognizing him, calling him only ‘Christian’. In the meantime, Torello is desperately trying to escape, to no avail, and then writes a letter to his wife that he hands over to one of the Genoese ambassadors who has arrived to release some of the men from their captivity. He hopes that his letter would first reach the Abbot of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro who would be able, as his relative, to mediate on his behalf.
One day, in the presence of Saladin, Torello smiles in a characteristic way, which makes the Sultan recognize him, and after having tested him by means of displaying the robes that Torello’s wife had given him and his companions as gifts, the two men embrace and renew their original friendship, despite the fact that Torello is still in captivity and Saladin is the Muslim overlord. But the latter honors him in equal fashion as Torello had done during his stay at Pavia, so he transforms him from a slave, or prisoner of war, to his most esteemed friend and guest. From that time on, the Italian gentleman is nobly treated and enjoys his sojourn at the Muslim court.
Tragically, however, news had spread to Pavia of the death of a certain Messer Torello de Dignes, which makes the family back home believe that our protagonist has passed away. After months of mourning, his wife regains her posture and demonstrates her willingness to marry a worthy suitor, as pressed upon her by her family. However, she demands that she be allowed to observe the time limit given to her by her husband. In the meantime, Torello has to learn that the galley that had carried his letter home to Pavia had sunk in a storm, so now, just eight days before the set date, he has to assume that all will be lost and that he will not see his wife again. This throws him into a grave depression, but Saladin helps him out by means of a necromancer who knows how to transport people by means of magic over large distances in a moment. The Sultan expresses great sadness over the prospect of losing his friend, with whom he would have loved to share his governmentship, but he acknowledges his great love for his wife and so helps him perfectly to achieve his goal. The magical procedure does not need to be addressed here, but it is certain that Boccaccio had no qualms to draw on necromancy as a viable art and skill that could achieve its desired goal, at least within the literary context.
In the exchange between these two men, we are given yet another example of their true friendship, their mutual respect, and their competition with each other over who might be more generous and more noble in their behavior. Saladin bemoans the fact that he does not have the time necessary to equip his friend adequately and to bestow all the gifts that he would like to give to him. Yet, because of the time pressing, they must proceed quickly, and once Torello has been ready with splendid Muslim clothing and a turban, all in a royal fashion, both men break out in tears and swear an oath on their friendship, and Torello has to promise the Sultan to come back for a visit and to communicate with him by letter. The entire scene is determined by deep emotions, but also by an expression of highest respect and acknowledgment, irrespective of the difference in their religion. Before Saladin leaves the chamber, he embraces his friend, crying out of sadness, but Torello has to move on once he has fallen asleep, brought about by a viaticum, the Sultan supplies his friend with an utmost amount of treasures, pearls, rings, and even a crown for his wife. The narrator knows hardly any bounds in describing the wealth that Saladin pours upon him, which all highlight once again how intimate their bond has been and that he has the greatest respect for this Christi
an merchant. In fact, Torello would not even have wanted to depart from his friend, the Muslim ruler, but the love for his wife drives him more strongly.
We can skip the subsequent scene, which is filled with wonder, surprise, shock, happiness, and delight for the married couple, since magic has brought about this wonder.28 For our purpose, it only matters that Saladin has helped his friend to save his marriage and to get him back to his home country just in time, richly endowed with many treasures as a sign of his enormous love for Torello. But it is also important to note that Torello appears at the nuptial breakfast to test his wife and to learn the truth of her feelings, and this in the clothing provided by the Sultan. No one recognizes him and everyone simply believes what the abbot, Torello’s uncle, tells them, that is, that he is a Saracen ambassador sent to the king of France, taking a break here in Pavia. This allows Torello to pass secretly in a cup to his wife, who soon enough recognizes him and greatly rejoices at his return. The narrative then quickly reaches a happy end, but not, which matters greatly for us, informing us that Torello informed the Sultan of his safe return home and keeping him informed over the years about his well-being via letters, each time affirming their friendship.
The narrator Panfilo offers herewith a remarkable cultural and ethical portrait of deep and unadulterated friendship between two highly minded individuals, based on their mutual respect and admiration. There would not be any need to probe whether there is more at play than the homo-social bond, since Torello is deeply in love with his wife. For Boccaccio, what matters most is the natural bond between these two men, who represent two cultural and religious worlds and yet share one and the same portfolio of values and ideals, striving with all their heart and mind for generosity, nobility, honor, and friendship. Religion, to repeat it once again, does not matter here at all, although the military hostility between Islam and Christianity, as represented by the crusade, constitutes the platform enabling it in the first place for both men to meet. In fact, the crusade itself seems to be a rather foolish enterprise and comes to a quick end because of the Muslims’ total victory. But only because Saladin is afraid of the European threat does he go on his espionage trip and, thus, comes into contact with Torello. Curiously, he never inquires with him about the strength of the Christians and seems to have forgotten his military purpose entirely while staying in Pavia.29
Drawing on the widespread myth of Saladin, Boccaccio elaborated here a scenario in which two highly minded and equally minded individuals meet and immediately strike friendship and pursue this even over the long distance after Torello’s magical return home. There he can operate freely even though he is at first mistaken as a Saracen ambassador and is even invited to the planned wedding. In other words, the appearance of a Muslim in Christian Italy did not seem to be much more than an extraordinary event of great splendor, and even when Saladin had arrived at Pavia in the early part, without revealing his true identity, Torello had welcomed him without any hesitation.
The nobility of character, which we have observed already in Rudolf von Ems’s Der guote Gêrhart, bridges all differences between members of the two different faiths, especially because religious issues do not matter centrally, irrespective of the historical framework of the planned crusade as organized by Emperor Frederick I. Boccaccio presents here a literary scenario where tolerance is practiced both in Italy and in Egypt, both in the city of Pavia, where all the other citizens join Torello in paying respect to the strangers, and in Alexandria, where Saladin makes the greatest efforts to help his friend recover his love, his marriage, and his happiness. In a way, we encounter here another literary example of a utopian kind where tolerance is allowed to come forth strongly. Despite the crusade, or almost just because of it, two outstanding individuals from two different cultures and religions meet and immediately strike a friendship because they recognize in the other a worthy and noble character. Nothing matters more for Saladin and Messer Torello than the internal noble character, virtues, and honor, all of which leaves out religion as a ephemeral, almost irrelevant battle cry for the masses, and not for the learned intellectuals.
Decameron II/7
Finally, we can draw from yet another tale in the Decameron; this one told by Panfilo as the seventh novella on the second day, where the world of Islam comes into contact with Christianity, or vice versa. Here, however, the situation proves to be much more problematic since there is virtually no communication between the protagonists, whereas murder, envy, jealousy, and hatred dominate. Yet, all those negative aspects concern only the Christian protagonists, whereas the Muslim figures watch from the sideline in horror about the men’s brutality and recklessness. As we will notice, Boccaccio’s tale matters so much in our context not because people from different religions and cultures meet, but because the narrator projects such negative images of the Christian world.
Panfilo introduces his story with reflections on the vicissitudes of fortune and seems to harken back directly to Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae once again. As he emphasizes, good fortune comes and goes, and no one can rely on material goods, political power, worldly fame, or physical beauty. Curiously, however, Panfilo locates the beginning of his story in Babylon where the ruler enjoys a rich life, having numerous children, among whom the most beautiful Alatiel. Out of gratitude for the military help that the Sultan had received from the King of Algarve, he promises him his daughter Alatiel as his wife and sends her, richly equipped with her dowry, across the Mediterranean. This sea voyage quickly demonstrates the true face of fortune because a mighty storm arises and causes them all to suffer from a shipwreck near the island of Majorca. The narrator here draws on a classical trope, the shipwreck, and utilizes it skillfully to set up the encounter of this highly attractive Arab princess with numerous Christian men who all have to die because of their immoderate passion.30
The sailors desperately try to save their lives and jump into a little boat to reach the safety of the shore, but in their foolish struggle fighting against each other, they all make that boat sink, so they drown as a result of their selfish behavior and lack of cooperation, while Alatiel with her ladies stays behind on the ship, which remains somewhat intact and is driven toward the shore, which brings about the rescue of some of them the next day. Particularly because of this tragic situation, the narrator can reach the goal of exploration how Christian men and Muslim women might interact and what this all could mean for the discussion of toleration and tolerance.
These helpless women are finally rescued when a Christian nobleman, Pericone da Visalgo arrives and has them retrieved them from the wreck. Although neither side can understand the other, Pericone is immediately struck by Alatiel’s beauty and woos her with all of his strength, irrespective of the language barrier and her strong attempt to preserve her chastity. But one day, having seduced her to drink wine, which she was unaccustomed to because of her Muslim faith, as the narrator emphasizes, she becomes rather tipsy and then allows Pericone to follow her to the bedroom, where she undresses and lies down in bed, immediately followed by him, and so begins their love affair. Alatiel quickly learns to enjoy their sexual encounters and actually invites him in repeatedly, although the linguistic barrier remains the same. The narrator continues praising her extraordinary physical beauty and refrains from criticizing her for falling for Pericone’s seduction efforts. As a noble lady in a foreign land, with virtually no one there to help her, she accommodates to the new situation and fares well, which is all she can practically do at that moment, although it bodes doom, at least for her lover.
Tragically for him, Pericone’s brother Marato falls madly in love with this extraordinarily beautiful woman and does not hesitate to murder his brother at the next opportunity, kidnapping the lady on a ship. The two brothers who commandeer it similarly find her irresistible and plot to murder Marato, which they manage to do by throwing him overboard without anyone noticing it for a long time when it is too late to rescue him. But subsequently, they get into a deadly fight over w
ho should enjoy Alatiel first, and while one of them dies, the other one is badly wounded. Once the ship has reached the harbor of Glarentza—today near Kyllani in Elis, at the westernmost point of the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece—the kinsmen of the injured man send the lady to the Prince of Morea—the name for the southern part of the Peloponnese peninsula—who also falls in love with her and takes her on as his wife, although there is, as ever, no communication between them and hence no explicit agreement on her part. The tragic course of events continues, however, insofar as the prince is soon murdered by the Duke of Athens, who at first sleeps with Alatiel and then escapes with her on horseback, taking her to a villa outside of his city where he can hide her from his own wife.
Soon enough, the murder of the prince is discovered, and his brother, having been appointed as successor, quickly assembles an army and goes on a warfare against the duke, who readily prepares himself, being assisted by the son of the Emperor of Byzantium Constantine and his nephew Manuel. The duchess, being deeply hurt by her husband’s action, has already learned of the causa belli and appeals to these two men to help her to remove the lady, her husband’s secret mistress. In order to prepare themselves appropriately, they visit the remote villa, and Constantine is immediately smitten by love for the Arabic princess. The duchess, not suspecting those amorous feelings in her brother, approves of any plans Constantine might have, who, pretending to protect his sister’s honor, manages to abduct Alatiel, fleeing to Aegina—one of the Saronic Islands of Greece, only twenty-seven kilometers from Athens—and then, a few days later, to Chios—a Greek island seven kilometers off the coast of Anatolia.
Toleration and Tolerance in Medieval European Literature Page 21