Lettere reali, lettere fittizie in una collezione lombarda duecentesca di exempla epistolarum

A Lombard letter collection, dating from the second half of the 13th century, is here examined. Preserved in three manuscripts, it comprises 188 texts, mainly in prose, but also in verse: among the texts in metre, the famous poem on the destruction of Milan in 1162 stands out. A group of papal letters is substantial (from Honorius III to Alexander IV), almost all addressed to recipients in northern Italy (Milan and Brescia); imperial epistles can be traced back to Pier della Vigna. It was assembled in the milieu of Lombard dictatores serving the podestà of Milan and Brescia. This collection also includes a series of fictitious letters, such as the one on the virtues of a perfect horse, the correspondence of a lion, a donkey and a hare, or between life and death and between soul and body.