Chanson de geste

Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne; from a manuscript of a chanson de geste.

The chansons de geste, Old French for "songs of heroic deeds," are the epic poetry that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known examples date from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, nearly a hundred years before the emergence of the lyric poetry of the trouvères and the earliest verse romances.

These songs originated in the (largely pagan) oral tradition that preceded written culture, and show influence of both the pagan tradition as well as the emerging influence of Christian ideas and values.

Subjects

Composed in Old French, apparently intended for oral performance by jongleurs, the chansons de geste narrate legendary incidents (sometimes based on real events) in the history of France in the eighth and ninth centuries, the age of Charles Martel, Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, with emphasis on their combats against the Moors and Saracens. To these historical legends fantasy is gradually added; giants, magic, and monsters increasingly appear among the foes along with Muslims. There is also an increasing dose of Eastern adventure, drawing on contemporary experiences in the Crusades; in addition, one series of chansons retells the events of the First Crusade and the first years of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Finally, in chansons of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the historical and military aspects wane, and the fantastic elements in the stories dominate.

The traditional subject matter of the chansons de geste became known as the "Matter of France." This distinguished them from romances concerned with the "Matter of Britain," (matière de Bretagne) that is, King Arthur and his knights; and with the so-called "Matter of Rome," covering the Trojan War, the conquests of Alexander the Great, the life of Julius Cæsar and some of his Imperial successors, who were given medieval makeovers as exemplars of chivalry.

The poems contain a small and unvarying assortment of character types; the repertoire of valiant hero, brave traitor, shifty or cowardly traitor, Saracen giant, beautiful Saracen princess, and so forth is one that is easily exhausted. As the genre matured, fantasy elements were introduced. Some of the characters that were devised by the poets in this manner include the fairy Oberon, who made his literary debut in Huon de Bordeaux; and the magic horse Bayard, who first appears in Renaud de Montauban. Quite soon an element of self-parody appears; even the august Charlemagne was not above gentle mockery in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.

Origins

The origin of the chanson de geste as a form is much debated. The nineteenth century medievalist Gaston Paris, recognizing that they drew on an oral epic tradition, identified this with narrative songs (sometimes called cantilenae) that are occasionally mentioned by contemporary authors in other genres.

Such songs about important events were sometimes being sung very soon after the military events described. As a first example, a contemporary historian records that the names of those who fell at the very minor ambush at Roncesvalles were on everyone's lips sixty years after the event, indicating the growth of a legend quite out of proportion to the political significance of the original incident–a legend that would result, long afterwards, in the various versions of The Song of Roland that are still extant. As a second example, there are references to contemporary songs on the subject of the First Crusade in two historical sources on that Crusade, supporting the statement by Graindor of Brie, composer of the surviving Chanson d'Antioche, that he had drawn on the original work of the jongleur and participant Richard le Pèlerin. The Spanish Cantar de Mio Cid shows that a comparable narrative tradition existed in Spain at the same period.

Gaston Paris also believed that the early singers followed the courts of kings and military leaders, as did Norse skalds (lyric poets) and some Celtic bards, but the evidence on this is less conclusive.

Another school of thought, championed by Joseph Bédier, holds that the poems were the invention of the poets who wrote them. Bédier further suggests that some of the stories were first invented by monks, who used them to advertise pilgrimage sites by connecting them not only with saints but also by legendary heroes of folklore. Magical relics frequently appear in the tales. This point of view has fewer proponents since the development of Oral theory; it is additionally problematic because monks were specifically forbidden to dabble in the literature of the jongleurs.

Versification

Early chansons de geste are composed in ten-syllable lines grouped in assonanced stanzas (meaning that the last stressed vowel is the same in each line throughout the stanza, but the last consonant differs from line to line). Stanzas are of variable length. An example from the Chanson de Roland illustrates the technique. The assonance in this stanza is on e:

Desuz un pin, delez un eglanter

Un faldestoed i unt, fait tout d'or mer:

La siet li reis ki dulce France tient.

Blanche ad la barbe et tut flurit le chef,

Gent ad le cors et le cuntenant fier.

S'est kil demandet, ne l'estoet enseigner.

Under a pine tree, by a rosebush,

there is a throne made entirely of gold.

There sits the king who rules sweet France;

his beard is white, with a full head of hair.

He is noble in carriage, and proud of bearing.

If anyone is looking for the King, he doesn't need to be pointed out.

Later chansons are composed in monorhyme stanzas, in which the last syllable of each line rhymes fully throughout the stanza. A second change is that each line now contains twelve syllables instead of ten. The following example is from the opening lines of Les Chétifs, a chanson in the Crusade cycle. The rhyme is on ie:

Or s'en fuit Corbarans tos les plains de Surie,

N'enmaine que .ii. rois ens en sa conpaignie.

S'enporte Brohadas, fis Soudan de Persie;

En l'estor l'avoit mort a l'espee forbie

Li bons dus Godefrois a le chiere hardie

Tres devant Anthioce ens en la prairie.

So Corbaran escaped across the plains of Syria;

He took only two kings in his company.

He carried away Brohadas, son of the Sultan of Persia,

Who had been killed in the battle by the clean sword

Of the brave-spirited good duke Godfrey

Right in front of Antioch, down in the meadow.

Performance

The songs were recited (sometimes to casual audiences, sometimes possibly in a more formal setting) by jongleurs, who would sometimes accompany themselves, or be accompanied, on the vielle, a mediæval fiddle played with a bow. Several manuscript texts include lines in which the jongleur demands attention, threatens to stop singing, promises to continue the next day, and asks for money or gifts. Since paper was extremely expensive and not all poets could read, it seems likely that even after the chansons had begun to be written down, many performances continued to depend on oral transmission. As an indication of the role played by orality in the tradition of the chanson de geste, lines and sometimes whole stanzas (especially in the earlier examples) are noticeably formulaic in nature, making it possible both for the poet to construct a poem in performance and for the audience to grasp a new theme with ease.

The poems themselves

Approximately one hundred chansons de geste survive, in manuscripts that date from the twelfth century to the fifteenth century. Several popular chansons were written down more than once in varying forms. The earliest chansons are all (more or less) anonymous; many later ones have named authors.

About 1215 Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube, in the introductory lines to his Girart de Vienne, subdivided the Matter of France, the usual subject area of the chansons de geste, into three cycles, which revolved around three main characters. There are several other less formal lists of chansons, or of the legends they incorporate. One can be found in the fabliau entitled Des Deux Bordeors Ribauz, a humorous tale of the second half of the thirteenth century, in which a jongleur lists the stories he knows. Another is included by the Catalan troubadour Guiraut de Cabrera in his humorous poem Ensenhamen, better known from its first words as "Cabra juglar": this is addressed to a juglar (jongleur) and purports to instruct him on the poems he ought to know but doesn't.

The listing below is arranged according to Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube's cycles, extended with two additional groupings and with a final list of chansons that fit into no cycle. There are numerous differences of opinion about the categorization of individual chansons.

The Geste du roi

The chief character is usually Charlemagne or one of his immediate successors. A pervasive theme is the King's role as champion of Christianity. This cycle contains the first of the chansons to be written down, the Chanson de Roland or "The Song of Roland."

• • La Chanson de Roland (c. 1080 for the Oxford text, the earliest written version); several other versions exist, including the Occitan Ronsasvals the Middle High German Ruolandsliet and the Latin Carmen de Prodicione Guenonis.'. "Prequels" and sequels followed much later:
    • Entrée d'Espagne
    • Galiens li Restorés known from a single manuscript of about 1490
    • Anseïs de Carthage (c. 1200)
  • Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne or Voyage de Charlemagne à Jérusalem et à Constantinople dealing with a fictional expedition by Charlemagne and his knights (c. 1140; two fifteenth century reworkings)
  • Fierabras (c. 1170)
  • Aspremont (c. 1190); a later version formed the basis of Aspramonte by Andrea da Barberino
  • Aiquin
  • La Chanson de Saisnes or "Song of the Saxons," by Jean Bodel (c. 1200)
  • Otuel or Otinel
  • Berthe aux Grands Pieds by Adenet le Roi (c. 1275), and a later Franco-Italian reworking
  • Mainet
  • Basin
  • Les Enfances Ogier by Adenet le Roi (c. 1275)
  • Ogier the Dane (Ogier le Danois) by Raimbert de Paris
  • Jehan de Lanson (before 1239)
  • Gui de Bourgogne
  • Gaydon (c. 1230)
  • Macaire or La Chanson de la Reine Sebile
  • Huon de Bordeaux originally c. 1215-1240, known from slightly later manuscripts. A "prequel" and four sequels were later added:
    • Auberon
    • La Chanson d'Esclarmonde
    • Clarisse et Florent
    • La Chanson d'Ide et d'Olive
    • Godin
  • Hugues Capet (c. 1360)
  • Huon d’Auvergne, a lost chanson known from a sixteenth century retelling. The hero is mentioned among epic heroes in the Ensenhamen of Guiraut de Cabrera, and figures as a character in Mainet

The Geste de Garin de Monglane

The central character is not Garin de Monglane but his supposed great-grandson, Guillaume d'Orange. These chansons deal with knights who were typically younger sons, not heirs, who seek land and glory through combat with the Infidel (in practice, Muslim) enemy.

• • La Chanson de Guillaume (c. 1100)
  • Couronnement de Louis (c. 1130)
  • Le Charroi de Nîmes (c. 1140)
  • La Prise d'Orange (c. 1150), reworking of a lost version from before 1122
  • Aliscans (c. 1180), with several later versions
  • La Bataille Loquifer by Graindor de Brie (fl. 1170)
  • Le Moniage Rainouart by Graindor de Brie (fl. 1170)
  • Foulques de Candie, by Herbert le Duc of Dammartin (fl. 1170)
  • Simon de Pouille or "Simon of Apulia," fictional eastern adventures; the hero is said to be a grandson of Garin de Monglane
  • Aymeri de Narbonne by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube (1190-1217)
  • Girart de Vienne by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube (1190-1217); also found in a later shorter version alongside Hernaut de Beaulande and Renier de Gennes
  • Les Enfances Garin de Monglane (15th century)
  • Garin de Monglane (13th century)
  • Hernaut de Beaulande; a fragment of the 14th century and a later version
  • Renier de Gennes
  • Les Enfances Guillaume (before 1250)
  • Les Narbonnais (c. 1205), in two parts, known as Le département des enfants Aymeri, Le siège de Narbonne
  • Les Enfances Vivien (c. 1205)
  • Le Covenant Vivien or La Chevalerie Vivien
  • Le Siège de Barbastre (c. 1180)
    • Bovon de Commarchis (c. 1275), reworking by Adenet le Roi of the Siege de Barbastre
  • Guibert d'Andrenas (13th century)
  • La Prise de Cordres (13th century)
  • La Mort Aymeri de Narbonne (c. 1180)
  • Les Enfances Renier
  • Le Moniage Guillaume (1160-1180)

The Geste de Doon de Mayence

This cycle concerns traitors and rebels against royal authority. In each case the revolt ends with the defeat of the rebels and their eventual repentance.

• • Girart de Roussillon (1160-1170). The hero Girart de Roussillon also figures in Girart de Vienne, in which he is identified as a son of Garin de Monglane. There is a later sequel:
    • Auberi le Bourgoing
  • Renaud de Montauban or Les Quatre Fils Aymon (end of the twelfth century)
  • Raoul de Cambrai, apparently begun by Bertholais; existing version from end of twelfth century
  • Doön de Mayence (mid-thirteenth century)
  • Gaufrey
  • Doon de Nanteuil current in the second half of the twelfth century, now known only in fragments which derive from a thirteenth century version. To this several sequels were attached:
    • Aye d’Avignon, probably composed between 1195 and 1205. The fictional heroine is first married to Garnier de Nanteuil, who is son of Doon de Nanteuil and grandson of Doon de Mayence. After Garnier’s death she marries the Saracen Ganor
    • Gui de Nanteuil, evidently popular around 1207 when the troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras mentions the story. The fictional hero is son of the heroine of Aye d’Avignon (to which Gui de Nanteuil forms a sequel)
    • Tristan de Nanteuil. The fictional hero is son of the hero of Gui de Nanteuil
    • Parise la Duchesse. The fictional heroine is daughter of the heroine of Aye d’Avignon. Exiled from France, she gives birth to a son, Hugues, who becomes king of Hungary
  • Maugis d’Aigremont
  • Vivien l’Amachour de Monbranc

The Lorraine cycle

This local cycle of epics of Lorraine traditional history, in the late form in which it is now known, includes details evidently drawn from Huon de Bordeaux and Ogier le Danois.

• • Garin le Loherain
  • Hervis de Metz
  • Gerbert de Metz
  • Anseïs fils de Girbert

The Crusade cycle

Not listed by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube, this cycle deals with the First Crusade and its immediate aftermath.

• • Chanson d'Antioche, apparently begun by Richard le Pèlerin c. 1100; earliest surviving text by Graindor de Douai c. 1180; expanded version fourteenth century
  • Les Chétifs telling the adventures (mostly fictional) of the poor crusaders led by Peter the Hermit; the hero is Harpin de Bourges. The episode was eventually incorporated, c. 1180, by Graindor de Douai in his reworking of the Chanson d'Antioche
  • Matabrune tells the story of old Matabrune and of the great-grandfather of Godefroi de Bouillon
  • Le Chevalier au Cigne tells the story of Elias, grandfather of Godefroi de Bouillon. Originally composed around 1192, it was afterwards extended and divided into several branches
  • Les Enfances Godefroi or "Childhood exploits of Godefroi" tells the story of the youth of Godefroi de Bouillon and his three brothers
  • Chanson de Jérusalem
  • La Mort de Godefroi de Bouillon, quite unhistorical, narrates Godefroi’s poisoning by the Patriarch of Jerusalem
  • Baudouin de Sebourg (early fourteenth century)
  • Le Bâtard de Bouillon (early fourteenth century)

Other chansons de geste

• • Gormont et Isembart
  • Ami et Amile, followed by a sequel:
    • Jourdain de Blaye
  • Beuve de Hanstonne, and a related poem:
    • Daurel et Beton, whose putative Old French version is lost; the story is known from an Occitan version of c. 1200
  • Aigar et Maurin
  • Aïmer le Chétif, a lost chanson
  • Aiol (thirteenth century)

Legacy and adaptations

The chansons de geste created a body of mythology that lived on well after the creative force of the genre itself was spent. The Italian epics of Torquato Tasso (Rinaldo), Orlando innamorato (1495) by Matteo Boiardo, and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto are all founded on the legends of the paladins of Charlemagne that first appeared in the chansons de geste. As such, their incidents and plot devices later became central to works of English literature such as Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene; Spenser attempted to adapt the form devised to tell the tale of the triumph of Christianity over Islam to relate instead the triumph of Protestantism over Roman Catholicism. The German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach based his (incomplete) thirteenth century epic Willehalm, consisting of 78 manuscripts, on the life of William of Orange. The chansons were also recorded in the Icelandic saga, Karlamagnús.

Indeed, until the nineteenth century, the tales of Roland and Charlemagne were as important as the tales of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, and the Italian epics on these themes were still accounted major works of literature. It is only in the later nineteenth and twentieth century that the Matter of France was finally eclipsed by the Matter of Britain.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Baroin, Jeanne, ed. Simon de Pouille. Duncker und Humblot Verlag, 2002. ISBN 3428106237
• Doubherty, David M., ed. La geste de Beaulande. E. B. Barnes, 1966. ISBN 9780871140395
• Myers, J. Vernon, ed. Jehan de Lanson, chanson de geste of the 13th Century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965. ISBN 2728801398

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