The Twelve Abbots of Challant

The Twelve Abbots of Challant (Italian: I dodici abati di Challant) is an historical novel by Laura Mancinelli published in 1981 and winner of the Mondello Prize[1] in the same year.

The Twelve Abbots of Challant
Portrait of Ibleto di Challant (14th–15th century)
AuthorLaura Mancinelli
Original titleI dodici abati di Challant
TranslatorSarah E. Christopher and Colleen Regalbuto
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
GenreHistorical novel
PublisherEinaudi (Italy)
Troubador (UK)
Publication date
1981
Published in English
2003
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages216 pp
ISBN1-89-929354-X
OCLC53243562

Translation in English - Sarah E. Christopher, Colleen Regalbuto

The story is set around the end of the 13th century in a castle perched in the mountains of the Aosta Valley and lasts a year, from the death of the old marquis to the fire in the castle. The only external environment is the wood; the internal environments are the rooms of the castle.

Plot summary

A feudal lord inherits a castle with the condition of maintaining faith in an evil obligation of chastity. Twelve abbots take on the task of watching over the commitment, but they all disappear in a succession of mysterious deaths, victims of banal and emblematic incidents. Beautiful and unscrupulous Madonnas, castellans and priests, philosophers persecuted by the Inquisition, squires and monks, devils and sulphurous spells, testamentary readings and carnal temptations, audacious and holy tetragons and then again ... the beautiful Maravì sleepless in love, nostalgia, evening horseback riding, inventors and transplant surgeons in the odor of heresy and even a child and his cat Miro.

In the novel many characters are presented, some appearing only in one chapter (like the merchant, the inventor, the astrologer), others who return after some time for a brief appearance (like the troubadour and the philosopher). Each of them represents a social class of the Middle Ages.

Characters
Nobles
Visitors to the castle
  • Enrico of Morazzone – inventor
  • The philosopher –
  • The wise priestess –
  • Madonna Maravì – came from the Angevin Court of Naples.
  • The Venetian merchant –
  • The troubadour –
  • The astrologer –
The twelve abbots
  • Nevoso -
  • Umidio -
  • Celorio -
  • Foscolo -
  • Mistral -
  • Leonzio -
  • Santoro -
  • Malbruno -
  • Torchiato -
  • Prudenzio -
  • Ildebrando -
  • Ipocondrio -

See also

Notes
  1. RAI Regione Sicilia. "RAI Regione Sicilia – VII Premio Letterario Internazionale Mondello" (in Italian).

Sources
  • Mancinelli, Laura (2003). The Twelve Abbots of Challant and The Miracle of Saint Odilia. Troubador.


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