De mulieribus claris (Concerning Famous Women / 1374 Boccaccio), book (ms.)

De mulieribus claris <Latin> / Concerning Famous Women (1374) is a manuscript work by Giovanni Boccaccio.

Abstract

Giovanni Boccaccio's work was the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature. Among the 106 biographies, those of Eve, Athaliah, Mariamne and Poppea are of interest for "biblical" studies.

Editions

The Latin text was written in 1361-62 and apparently reworked several times, before being made public in 1374. The work widely circulated in manuscript form.

The Latin text was first printed in 1473 at Ulms, Germany.

• De mulieribus claris (Concerning Famous Women / 1473 @1374 Boccaccio), novel (ed. princeps)

Translations

The Latin ms. was translated into Italian (Donato Albanzani, 1395ca.), and French (Laurent de Premierfait, 1405).

A German translation of the work, by Heinrich Steinhöwel, was published in 1473, the same year of the editio princeps of the Latin text:

• Von etlichen frowen = De mulieribus claris (Concerning Famous Women / 1473 @1374 Boccaccio / Steinhöwel), novel (German ed.).

• L'opera de misser Giouanni Boccacio De mulieribus claris (Concerning Famous Women / 1506 @1374 Boccaccio / Bagli), novel (Italian ed.).