Guerino il Meschino
Written in Florence by Andrea da Barberino, Guerrino Il Meschino was one of several of Barberino's compositions written in the early fifteenth-century that commented on early medieval themes-- here the "Matter of France."
First printed in Padua in 1473, over 60 years after its composition, Meschino details the journey of a young man in the imperial court of Constantinople who wandered the ninth-century world, all the way to the kingdom of Prester John, seeking information about his parents (who end up being the King and Queen of Durazzo).
Upon discovering Prester John and his kingdom, the reader is treated to an extensive description of the Prester's opulent palace. Following a battle, Meschino is offered half of India by the Prester himself.
Olschki (p. 96) describes the text as "the most popular volume of fictional geography," a popular genre of the late-middle ages.
Rogers contextualizes:
A Near Easterner who journeyed to the Farther East and subsequently visited Pope Eugenius II (reigned 824 to 827) provides the subject of an Italian story, Guerino il Meschino, which has retained its popular appeal down the centuries and was well known to Dati.
Allaire has analyzed the text's portrayal of Muslims. Like the St. Thomas legends, Guerrino Il Meschino portrays a floating coffin.
Guerrino Il Meschino was made into a film in 1950.
