Carolus Magnus’s Oral Legends: Unravelling and Safeguarding

CAROLUS addresses the urgent need to safeguard the endangered traditions related to Carolus Magnus and his heroes. The project tackles the imminent extinction of these cultural treasures in Europe and in remote areas of South America and Africa. Through fieldwork and interdisciplinary research, CAROLUS aims to document, study, and safeguard these intangible heritages, ensuring their preservation for future generations.

The project employs a sophisticated research methodology, which weaves diachronic links between present-day local expressions and medieval origins, and conducts synchronic and comparative analyses on surviving performances, sung narratives and traditional theatre about Carolus Magnus. 

CAROLUS is conceived as a transdisciplinary exploration of oral and written traditions from the Middle Ages to the present. It stands out for its transcultural scope, covering three continents and multiple linguistic areas. The project aims to be a bastion for the protection and preservation of this endangered heritage of humanity in our globalized world.

Project hosted at the Department of Catalan Philology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and directed by Prof. Emanuele Arioli.