THE CHANSONS DE GESTES.
The earliest form which finished literature took in France was that of
epic or narrative poetry. Towards the middle of the eleventh century
certainly, and probably some half-century earlier, poems of regular
construction and considerable length began to be written. These are the
_Chansons de Gestes_, so called from their dealing with the
_Gestes_[17], or heroic families of legendary or historical France. It
is remarkable that this class of composition, notwithstanding its age,
its merits, and the abundant examples of it which have been preserved,
was one of the latest to receive recognition in modern times. The matter
of many of the Chansons, under their later form of verse or prose
romances of chivalry, was indeed more or less known in the eighteenth
century. But an appreciation of their real age, value, and interest has
been the reward of the literary investigations of our own time. It was
not till 1837 that the oldest and the most remarkable of them was first
edited from the manuscript found in the Bodleian Library[18]. Since that
time investigation has been constant and fruitful, and there are now
more than one hundred of these interesting poems known.
[Sidenote: Origin of Chansons de Gestes.]
The origin and sources of the _Chansons de Gestes_ have been made a
matter of much controversy. We have already seen how, from the testimony
of historians and the existence of a few fragments, it appears that rude
lays or ballads in the different vernacular tongues of the country were
composed and sung if not written down at very early dates. According to
one theory, we are to look for the origin of the long and regular epics
of the eleventh and subsequent centuries in these rude compositions,
first produced independently, then strung together, and lastly subjected
to some process of editing and union. It has been sought to find proof
of this in the frequent repetitions which take place in the Chansons,
and which sometimes amount to the telling of the same incident over and
over again in slightly varying words. Others have seen in this
peculiarity only a result of improvisation in the first place, and
unskilful or at least uncritical copying in the second. This, however,
is a question rather interesting than important. What is certain is that
no literary source of the Chansons is now actually in existence, and
that we have no authentic information as to any such originals. At a
certain period--approximately given above--the fashion of narrative
poems on the great scale seems to have arisen in France. It spread
rapidly, and was eagerly copied by other nations.
[Sidenote: Definition.]
The definition of a _Chanson de Geste_ is as follows. It is a narrative
poem, dealing with a subject connected with French history, written in
verses of ten or twelve syllables, which verses are arranged in stanzas
of arbitrary length, each stanza possessing a distinguishing assonance
or rhyme in the last syllable of each line. The assonance, which is
characteristic of the earlier Chansons, is an imperfect rhyme, in which
identity of vowel sound is all that is necessary. Thus _traitor_,
_felon_, _compaingnons_, _manons_, _noz_, the first, fourth, and fifth
of which have no character of rhyme whatever in modern poetry, are
sufficient terminations for an assonanced poem, because the last vowel
sound, o, is identical. There is moreover in this versification a
regular caesura, sometimes after the fourth, sometimes after the sixth
syllable; and in a few of the older examples the stanzas, or as they are
sometimes called _laisses_, terminate in a shorter line than usual,
which is not assonanced. This metrical system, it will be observed, is
of a fairly elaborate character, a character which has been used as an
argument by those who insist on the existence of a body of ballad
literature anterior to the Chansons. We shall see in the following
chapters how this double definition of a _Chanson de Geste_, by matter
and by form, serves to exclude from the title other important and
interesting classes of compositions slightly later in date.
[Sidenote: Period of Composition.]
The period of composition of these poems extended, speaking roughly,
over three centuries. In the eleventh they began, but the beginnings are
represented only by _Roland_, the _Voyage de Charlemagne_, and perhaps
_Le Roi Louis_. Most and nearly all the best date from the twelfth. The
thirteenth century also produces them in great numbers, but by this time
a sensible change has come over their manner, and after the beginning of
the fourteenth only a few pieces deserving the title are written. They
then undergo transformation rather than neglect, and we shall meet them
at a later period in other forms. Before dealing with other general
characteristics of the early epics of France it will be well to give
some notion of them by actual selection and narrative. For this purpose
we shall take two Chansons typical of two out of the three stages
through which they passed. _Roland_ will serve as a sample of the
earliest, _Amis et Amiles_ of the second. Of the third, as less
characteristic in itself and less marked by uniform features, it will be
sufficient to give some account when we come to the compositions which
chiefly influenced it, namely the romances of Arthur and of antiquity.
[Sidenote: Chanson de Roland.]
The _Chanson de Roland_, the most ancient and characteristic of these
poems, though extremely popular in the middle ages[19], passed with them
into obscurity. The earliest allusion to the Oxford MS., which alone
represents its earliest form, was made by Tyrwhitt a century ago.
Conybeare forty years later dealt with it in the _Gentleman's Magazine_
of 1817, and by degrees the reviving interest of France in her older
literature attracted French scholars to this most important monument of
the oldest French. It was first published as a whole by M. F. Michel in
1837, and since that time it has been the subject of a very great amount
of study. Its length is 4001 decasyllabic lines, and it concludes with
an obscure assertion of authorship, publication or transcription by a
certain Turoldus[20]. The date of the Oxford MS. is probably the middle
of the twelfth century, but its text is attributed by the best
authorities to the end of the eleventh. There are other MSS., but they
are all either mutilated or of much later date. The argument of the poem
is as follows:--
Charlemagne has warred seven years in Spain, but king Marsile of
Saragossa still resists the Christian conqueror. Unable however to meet
Charlemagne in the field, he sends an embassy with presents and a
feigned submission, requesting that prince to return to France, whither
he will follow him and do homage. Roland opposes the reception of these
offers, Ganelon speaks in their favour, and so does Duke Naimes. Then
the question is who shall go to Saragossa to settle the terms. Roland
offers to go himself, but being rejected as too impetuous, suggests
Ganelon--a suggestion which bitterly annoys that knight and by
irritating him against Roland sows the seeds of his future treachery.
Ganelon goes to Marsile, and at first bears himself truthfully and
gallantly. The heathen king however undermines his faith, and a
treacherous assault on the French rearguard when Charlemagne shall be
too far off to succour it is resolved on and planned. Then the traitor
returns to Charles with hostages and mighty gifts. The return to France
begins; Roland is stationed to his great wrath in the fatal place, the
rest of the army marches through the Pyrenees, and meanwhile Marsile
gathers an enormous host to fall upon the isolated rearguard. There is a
long catalogue of the felon and miscreant knights and princes that
follow the Spanish king. The pagan host, travelling by cross paths of
the mountains, soon reaches and surrounds Roland and the peers. Oliver
entreats Roland to sound his horn that Charles may hear it and come to
the rescue, but the eager and inflexible hero refuses. Archbishop Turpin
blesses the doomed host, and bids them as the price of his absolution
strike hard. The battle begins and all its incidents are told. The
French kill thousands, but thousands more succeed. Peer after peer
falls, and when at last Roland blows the horn it is too late.
Charlemagne hears it and turns back in an agony of sorrow and haste. But
long before he reaches Roncevaux Roland has died last of his host, and
alone, for all the Pagans have fallen or fled before him.
The arrival of Charlemagne, his grief, and his vengeance on the Pagans,
should perhaps conclude the poem. There is however a sort of afterpiece,
in which the traitor Ganelon is tried, his fate being decided by a
single combat between his kinsman Pinabel and a champion named Thierry,
and is ruthlessly put to death with all his clansmen who have stood
surety for him. Episodes properly so called the poem has none, though
the character of Oliver is finely brought out as contrasted with
Roland's somewhat unreasoning valour, and there is one touching incident
when the poet tells how the Lady Aude, Oliver's sister and Roland's
betrothed, falls dead without a word when the king tells her of the
fatal fight at Roncevaux. The following passage will give an idea of the
style of this famous poem. It may be noticed that the curious refrain
_Aoi_ has puzzled all commentators, though in calling it a refrain we
have given the most probable explanation:--
Rollanz s'en turnet, par le camp vait tut suls
cercet les vals e si cercet les munz;
iloec truvat Ivorie et Ivun,
truvat Gerin, Gerer sun cumpaignun,
iloec truvat Engeler le Gascun
e si truvat Berenger e Orun,
iloec truvat Anseis e Sansun,
truvat Gerard le veill de Russillun:
par un e un les ad pris le barun,
al arcevesque en est venuz atut,
sis mist en reng dedevant ses genuilz.
li arcevesque ne poet muer n'en plurt;
lievet sa main, fait sa beneicun;
apres ad dit 'mare fustes, seignurs!
tutes voz anmes ait deus li glorius!
en pareis les mete en seintes flurs!
la meie mort me rent si anguissus,
ja ne verrai le riche empereur.'
Rollanz s'en turnet, le camp vait recercer;
desoz un pin e folut e ramer
sun cumpaignun ad truved Oliver,
cuntre sun piz estreit l'ad enbracet.
si cum il poet al arcevesque en vent,
sur un escut l'ad as altres culchet;
e l'arcevesque l'ad asols e seignet.
idonc agreget le doel e la pitet.
co dit Rollanz 'bels cumpainz Oliver,
vos fustes filz al bon cunte Reiner,
ki tint la marche de Genes desur mer;
pur hanste freindre e pur escuz pecier
e pur osberc e rompre e desmailler,
[pur orgoillos veintre e esmaier]
e pur prozdomes tenir e conseiller
e pur glutuns e veintre e esmaier
en nule terre n'ot meillor chevaler.'
Li quens Rollanz, quant il veit morz ses pers
e Oliver, qu'il tant poeit amer,
tendrur en out, cumencet a plurer,
en sun visage fut mult desculurez.
si grant doel out que mais ne pout ester,
voeillet o nun, a terre chet pasmet.
dist l'arcevesques 'tant mare fustes, ber.'
Li arcevesques quant vit pasmer Rollant,
dunc out tel doel, unkes mais n'out si grant;
tendit sa main, si ad pris l'olifan.
en Rencesvals ad une ewe curant;
aler i volt, si'n durrat a Rollant.
tant s'esforcat qu'il se mist en estant,
sun petit pas s'en turnet cancelant,
il est si fieble qu'il ne poet en avant,
nen ad vertut, trop ad perdut del sanc.
einz que om alast un sul arpent de camp,
fait li le coer, si est chaeit avant:
la sue mort li vait mult angoissant.
Li quenz Rollanz revient de pasmeisuns,
sur piez se drecet, mais il ad grant dulur;
guardet aval e si guardet amunt:
sur l'erbe verte, ultre ses cumpaignuns,
la veit gesir le nobilie barun,
co est l'arcevesque que deus mist en sun num;
cleimet sa culpe, si reguardet amunt,
cuntre le ciel amsdous ses mains ad juinz,
si priet deu que pareis li duinst.
morz est Turpin le guerreier Charlun.
par granz batailles e par mult bels sermons
cuntre paiens fut tuz tens campiuns.
deus li otreit seinte beneicun! Aoi.
Quant Rollanz vit l'arcevesque qu'est morz,
senz Oliver une mais n'out si grant dol,
e dist un mot que destrenche le cor:
'Carles de France chevalce cum il pot;
en Rencesvals damage i ad des noz;
li reis Marsilie ad sa gent perdut tot,
cuntre un des noz ad ben quarante morz.'
Li quenz Rollanz veit l'arcevesque a terre,
defors sun cors veit gesir la buelle,
desuz le frunt li buillit la cervelle.
desur sun piz, entre les dous furcelles,
cruisiedes ad ses blanches mains, les belles.
forment le pleint a la lei de sa terre.
'e, gentilz hom, chevaler de bon aire,
hoi te cumant al glorius celeste:
ja mais n'ert hume plus volenters le serve.
des les apostles ne fut honc tel prophete
pur lei tenir e pur humes atraire.
ja la vostre anme nen ait doel ne sufraite!
de pareis li seit la porte uverte!'
[Sidenote: Amis et Amiles.]
As _Roland_ is by far the most interesting of those Chansons which
describe the wars with the Saracens, so _Amis et Amiles_[21] may be
taken as representing those where the interest is mainly domestic. _Amis
et Amiles_ is the earliest vernacular form of a story which attained
extraordinary popularity in the middle ages, being found in every
language and in most literary forms, prose and verse, narrative and
dramatic. This popularity may partly be assigned to the religious and
marvellous elements which it contains, but is due also to the intrinsic
merits of the story. The Chanson contains 3500 lines, dates probably
from the twelfth century, and is written, like _Roland_, in decasyllabic
verse, but, unlike _Roland_, has a shorter line of six syllables and not
assonanced at the end of each stanza. Its story is as follows:--
Amis and Amiles were two noble knights, born and baptized on the same
day, who had the Pope for sponsor, and whose comradeship was specially
sanctioned by a divine message, and by the miraculous likeness which
existed between them. They were however brought up, the one in Berri,
the other in Auvergne, and did not meet till both had received
knighthood. As soon as they had joined company, they resolved to offer
their services to Charles, and did him great service against rebels.
Here the action proper begins. The friends arouse the jealousy of
Hardre, a felon knight, of Ganelon's lineage and likeness. Hardre
engages Gombaud of Lorraine, an enemy of the Emperor, to attack the two
friends; but the treason does not succeed, and the traitor, to escape
unpleasant enquiries, recommends Charles to bestow his own niece Lubias
on Amiles. The latter declares that Amis deserves her better, and to
Amis she is married, bearing however no good-will to Amiles for his
resignation of her and for his firm hold on her husband's affection.
Meanwhile, the daughter of Charles, Bellicent, conceives a violent
passion for Amiles, and the traitor Hardre unfortunately becomes aware
of the matter. He at once accuses Amiles of treason, and the knight is
too conscious of the dubiousness of his cause to be very willing to
accept the wager of battle. From this difficulty he is saved by Amis,
who comes to Paris from his distant seignory of Blaivies (Blaye), and
fights the battle in the name and armour of his friend, while the latter
goes to Blaye and plays the part of his preserver. Both ventures are
made easier by the extraordinary resemblance of the pair. Amis is
successful; he slays Hardre, and then has no little difficulty in saving
himself from a forced marriage with Bellicent. This embroglio is
smoothed out, and Amiles and Bellicent are happily united. The generous
Amis however has not been able to avoid forswearing himself while
playing the part of Amiles; and this sin is punished, according to a
divine warning, by an attack of leprosy. His wife Lubias seizes the
opportunity, procures a separation from him, and almost starves him, or
would do so but for two faithful servants and his little son. At last a
means of cure is revealed to him. If Amiles and Bellicent will allow
their two sons to be slain the blood will recover Amis of his leprosy.
The stricken knight journeys painfully to his friend and tells him the
hard condition. Amiles does not hesitate, and the following passage
tells his deed:--
Li cuens Amiles un petit s'atarja,
vers les anfans pas por pas en ala,
dormans les treuve, moult par les resgarda,
s'espee lieve, ocirre les voldra;
mais de ferir un petit se tarja.
li ainznes freres de l'effroi s'esveilla
que li cuens mainne qui en la chambre entra,
l'anfes se torne, son pere ravisa,
s'espee voit, moult grant paor en a,
son pere apelle, si l'en arraisonna:
'biax sire peres, por deu qui tout forma,
que volez faire? nel me celez vos ja.
ainz mais nus peres tel chose ne pensa.'
'biaux sire fiuls, ocirre vos voil ja
et le tien frere qui delez toi esta;
car mes compains Amis qui moult m'ama,
dou sanc de vos li siens cors garistra,
que gietez est dou siecle.'
'Biax tres douz peres,' dist l'anfes erramment,
'quant vos compains avra garissement,
se de nos sans a sor soi lavement,
nos sommes vostre de vostre engenrement,
faire en poez del tout a vo talent.
or nos copez les chies isnellement;
car dex de glorie nos avra en present,
en paradis en irommes chantant
et proierommes Jhesu cui tout apent
que dou pechie vos face tensement,
vos et Ami, vostre compaingnon gent;
mais nostre mere, la bele Belissant,
nos saluez por deu omnipotent.'
li cuens l'oit, moult grans pities l'en prent
que touz pasmez a la terre s'estent.
quant se redresce, si reprinst hardement.
or orroiz ja merveilles, bonne gent,
que tex n'oistes en tout vostre vivant.
li cuens Amiles vint vers le lit esrant,
hauce l'espee, li fiuls le col estent.
or est merveilles se li cuers ne li ment.
la teste cope li peres son anfant,
le sanc reciut et cler bacin d'argent:
a poi ne chiet a terre.
No sooner has the blood touched Amis than he is cured, and the knights
solemnly visit the church where Bellicent and the people are assembled.
The story is told and the mother, in despair, rushes to the chamber
where her dead children are lying. But she finds them living and in full
health, for a miracle has been wrought to reward the faithfulness of the
friends now that suffering has purged them of their sin.
This story, touching in itself, is most touchingly told in the Chanson.
No poem of the kind is more vivid in description, or fuller of details
of the manners of the time, than _Amis et Amiles_. Bellicent and Lubias,
the former passionate and impulsive but loving and faithful, the latter
treacherous, revengeful, and cold-hearted, give perhaps the earliest
finished portraits of feminine character to be found in French
literature. Amis and Amiles themselves are presented to us under so many
more aspects than Roland and Oliver that they dwell better in the
memory. The undercurrent of savagery which distinguished mediaeval times,
and the rapid changes of fortune which were possible therein, are also
well brought out. Not even the immolation of Ganelon's hostages is so
striking as the calm ferocity with which Charlemagne dooms his wife and
son as well as his daughter to pay with their lives the penalty of
Bellicent's fault; while the sudden lapse of Amis from his position of
feudal lordship at Blaye to that of a miserable outcast, smitten and
marked out for public scorn and ill-treatment by the visitation of God,
is unusually dramatic. _Amis et Amiles_ bears to _Roland_ something not
at all unlike the relation of the Odyssey to the Iliad. Its
continuation, _Jourdains de Blaivies_, adds the element of foreign
travel and adventure; but that element is perhaps more
characteristically represented, and the representation has certainly
been more generally popular, in _Huon de Bordeaux_.
[Sidenote: Other principal Chansons.]
Of the remaining Chansons, the following are the most remarkable.
_Aliscans_ (twelfth century) deals with the contest between William of
Orange, the great Christian hero of the south of France, and the
Saracens. This poem forms, according to custom, the centre of a whole
group of Chansons dealing with the earlier and later adventures of the
hero, his ancestors, and descendants. Such are _Le Couronnement Loys_,
_La Prise d'Orange_, _Le Charroi de Nimes_, _Le Moniage Guillaume_. The
series formed by these and others[22] is among the most interesting of
these groups. _Le Chevalier au Cygne_ is a title applied directly to a
somewhat late version of an old folk-tale, and more generally to a
series of poems connected with the House of Bouillon and the Crusades.
The members of this bear the separate headings _Antioche_[23], _Les
Chetifs_, _Les Enfances Godefroy_, etc. _Antioche_, the first of these,
which describes the exploits of the Christian host, first in attacking
and then in defending that city, is one of the finest of the Chansons,
and is probably in its original form not much later than the events it
describes, being written by an eye-witness. The variety of its
personages, the vivid picture of the alternations of fortune, the vigour
of the verse, are all remarkable. This group is terminated by _Baudouin
de Sebourc_[24], a very late but very important Chanson, which falls in
with the poetry of the fourteenth century, and the _Bastart de
Bouillon_[25]. _La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche_[26] is the oldest
form in which the adventures of one of the most popular and romantic of
Charlemagne's heroes are related. _Fierabras_ had also a very wide
popularity, and contains some of the liveliest pictures of manners to be
found in these poems, in its description of the rough horse-play of the
knights and the unfilial behaviour of the converted Saracen princess.
This poem is also of much interest philologically[27]. _Garin le
Loherain_[28] is the centre of a remarkable group dealing not directly
with Charlemagne, but with the provincial disputes and feuds of the
nobility of Lorraine. _Raoul de Cambrai_[29] is another of the Chansons
which deal with 'minor houses,' as they are called, in contradistinction
to the main Carlovingian cycle. _Gerard de Roussillon_[30] ranks as a
poem with the best of all the Chansons. _Hugues Capet_[31], though very
late, is attractive by reason of the glimpses it gives us of a new
spirit supplanting that of chivalry proper. In it the heroic distinctly
gives place to the burlesque. _Macaire_[32], besides being written in a
singular dialect, in which French is mingled with Italian, supplies the
original of the well-known dog of Montargis. _Huon de Bordeaux_[33],
already mentioned, was not only more than usually popular at the time of
its appearance, but has supplied Shakespeare with some of the dramatis
personae of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, and Wieland and Weber with the
plot of a well-known poem and opera. _Jourdains de Blaivies_, the sequel
to _Amis et Amiles_, contains, besides much other interesting matter,
the incident which forms the centre of the plot of _Pericles_. _Les
Quatre Fils Aymon_ or _Renaut de Montauban_[34] is the foundation of one
of the most popular French chap-books. _Les Saisnes_[35] deals with
Charlemagne's wars with Witekind. _Berte aus grans Pies_[36] is a very
graceful story of womanly innocence. _Doon de Mayence_[37], though not
early, includes a charming love-episode. _Gerard de Viane_[38] contains
the famous battle of Roland and Oliver. The _Voyage de Charlemagne a
Constantinople_[39] is semi-burlesque in tone and one of the earliest in
which that tone is perceptible.
[Sidenote: Social and Literary Characteristics.]
In these numerous poems there is recognisable in the first place a
distinct family likeness which is common to the earliest and latest, and
in the second, the natural difference of manners which the lapse of
three hundred years might be expected to occasion. There is a sameness
which almost amounts to monotony in the plot of most Chansons de Gestes:
the hero is almost always either falsely accused of some crime, or else
treacherously exposed to the attacks of Saracens, or of his own
countrymen. The agents of this treachery are commonly of the blood of
the arch-traitor Ganelon, and are almost invariably discomfited by the
good knight or his friends and avengers. The part[40] which Charlemagne
plays in these poems is not usually dignified: he is represented as
easily gulled, capricious, and almost ferocious in temper, ungrateful,
and ready to accept bribes and gifts. His good angel is always Duke
Naimes of Bavaria, the Nestor of the Carlovingian epic. In the earliest
Chansons the part played by women is not so conspicuous as in the later,
but in all except _Roland_ it has considerable prominence. Sometimes the
heroine is the wife, daughter, or niece of Charlemagne, sometimes a
Saracen princess. But in either case she is apt to respond without much
delay to the hero's advances, which, indeed, she sometimes anticipates.
The conduct of knights to their ladies is also far from being what we
now consider chivalrous. Blows are very common, and seem to be taken by
the weaker sex as matters of course. The prevailing legal forms are
simple and rather sanguinary. The judgment of God, as shown by ordeal of
battle, settles all disputes; but battle is not permitted unless several
nobles of weight and substance come forward as sponsors for each
champion; and sponsors as well as principal risk their lives in case of
the principal's defeat, unless they can tempt the king's cupidity. These
common features are necessarily in the case of so large a number of
poems mixed with much individual difference, nor are the Chansons by any
means monotonous reading. Their versification is pleasing to the ear,
and their language, considering its age, is of surprising strength,
expressiveness, and even wealth. Though they lack the variety, the
pathos, the romantic chivalry, and the mystical attractions of the
Arthurian romances, there is little doubt that they paint, far more
accurately than their successors, an actually existing state of society,
that which prevailed in the palmy time of the feudal system, when war
and religion were deemed the sole subjects worthy to occupy seriously
men of station and birth. In giving utterance to this warlike and
religious sentiment, few periods and classes of literature have been
more strikingly successful. Nowhere is the mere fury of battle better
rendered than in _Roland_ and _Fierabras_. Nowhere is the valiant
indignation of the beaten warrior, and, at the same time, his humble
submission to providence, better given than in _Aliscans_. Nowhere do we
find the mediaeval spirit of feudal enmity and private war more
strikingly depicted than in the cycle of the Lorrainers, and in _Raoul
de Cambrai_. Nowhere is the devout sentiment and belief of the same time
more fully drawn than in _Amis et Amiles_.
[Sidenote: Authorship.]
The method of composition and publication of these poems was peculiar.
Ordinarily, though not always, they were composed by the Trouvere, and
performed by the Jongleur. Sometimes the Trouvere condescended to
performance, and sometimes the Jongleur aspired to composition, but not
usually. The poet was commonly a man of priestly or knightly rank, the
performer (who might be of either sex) was probably of no particular
station. The Jongleur, or Jongleresse, wandered from castle to castle,
reciting the poems, and interpolating in them recommendations of the
quality of the wares, requests to the audience to be silent, and often
appeals to their generosity. Some of the manuscripts which we now
possess were originally used by Jongleurs, and it was only in this way
that the early Chanson de Geste was intended to be read. The process of
hawking about naturally interfered with the preservation of the poems in
their original purity, and even with the preservation of the author's
name. In very few cases[41] is the latter known to us.
The question whether the Chansons de Gestes were originally written in
northern or southern French has often been hotly debated. The facts are
these. Only three Chansons exist in Provencal. Two of these[42] are
admitted translations or imitations of Northern originals. The third,
_Girartz de Rossilho_, is undoubtedly original, but is written in the
northernmost dialect of the Southern tongue. The inference appears to be
clear that the Chanson de Geste is properly a product of northern
France. The opposite conclusion necessitates the supposition that either
in the Albigensian war, or by some inexplicable concatenation of
accidents, a body of original Provencal Chansons has been totally
destroyed, with all allusions to, and traditions of, these poems. Such a
hypothesis is evidently unreasonable, and would probably never have been
started had not some of the earliest students of Old French been
committed by local feeling to the championship of the language of the
Troubadours. On the other hand, almost all the dialects of Northern
French are represented, Norman and Picard being perhaps the
commonest[43].
[Sidenote: Style and Language.]
The language of these poems, as the extracts given will partly show, is
neither poor in vocabulary, nor lacking in harmony of sound. It is
indeed, more sonorous and stately than classical French language was
from the seventeenth century to the days of Victor Hugo, and abounds in
picturesque terms which have since dropped out of use. The massive
castles of the baronage, with their ranges of marble steps leading up to
the hall, where feasting is held by day and where the knights sleep at
night, are often described. Dress is mentioned with peculiar lavishness.
Pelisses of ermine, ornaments of gold and silver, silken underclothing,
seem to give the poets special pleasure in recording them. In no
language are what have been called 'perpetual' epithets more usual,
though the abundance of the recurring phrases prevents monotony. The
'clear countenances' of the ladies, the 'steely brands' of the knights,
their 'marble palaces,' the 'flowing beard' of Charlemagne, the
'guileful tongue' of the traitors, are constant features of the verbal
landscape. From so great a mass of poetry it would be vain in any space
here available to attempt to arrange specimen 'jewels five words long.'
But those who actually read the Chansons will be surprised at the
abundance of fresh striking and poetic phrase.
[Sidenote: Later History.]
Before quitting the subject of the Chansons de Gestes, it may be well to
give briefly their subsequent literary history. They were at first
frequently re-edited, the tendency always being to increase their
length, so that in some cases the latest versions extant run to thirty
or forty thousand lines. As soon as this limit was reached, they began
to be turned into prose, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries being
the special period of this change. The art of printing came in time to
assist the spread of these prose versions, and for some centuries they
were almost the only form in which the Chansons de Gestes, under the
general title of romances of chivalry, were known. The verse originals
remained for the most part in manuscript, but the prose romances gained
an enduring circulation among the peasantry in France. From the
seventeenth century their vogue was mainly restricted to this class. But
in the middle of the eighteenth the Comte de Tressan was induced to
attempt their revival for the _Bibliotheque des Romans_. His versions
were executed entirely in the spirit of the day, and did not render any
of the characteristic features of the old Epics. But they drew attention
to them, and by the end of the century, University Professors began to
lecture on old French poetry. The exertions of M. Paulin Paris, of M.
Francisque Michel, and of some German scholars first brought about the
re-editing of the Chansons in their original form about half a century
ago; and since that time they have received steady attention, and a
large number have been published--a number to which additions are yearly
being made. Rather more than half the known total are now in print.
FOOTNOTES:
[17] _Gesta_ or _Geste_ has three senses: (_a_) the _deeds_ of a hero;
(_b_) the _chronicle_ of those deeds; and (_c_) the _family_ which that
chronicle illustrates. The three chief gestes are those of the King, of
Doon de Mayence, and of Garin de Montglane. Each of these is composed of
many poems. Contrasted with these are the 'petites gestes,' which
include only a few Chansons.
[18] _La Chanson de Roland_, ed. Fr. Michel, Paris, 1837. The MS. is in
the Bodleian Library (Digby 23). Another, of much later date in point of
writing but representing the same text, exists at Venice. Of later
versions there are six manuscripts extant. The Chanson de Roland has
since its _editio princeps_ been repeatedly re-edited, translated, and
commented. The most exact edition is that of Prof. Stengel, Heilbronn,
1878, who has given the Bodleian Manuscript both in print and in
photographic facsimile. The best for general use is that of Leon Gautier
(seventh edition), 1877.
[19] Wace (Roman de Rou, iii. 8038 Andresen) speaks of the Norman
Taillefer as singing at Hastings 'De Karlemaigne et de Rollant.' It has
been sought, but perhaps fancifully, to identify this song with the
existing _chanson_.
[20] 'Ci falt la geste que Turoldus declinet.' The sense of the word
_declinet_ is quite uncertain, and the attempts made to identify
Turoldus are futile.
[21] _Amis et Amiles_, ed. Hoffmann. Erlangen, 1852.
[22] This series is given, sometimes in whole, sometimes in extracts, by
Dr. Jonckbloet, _Guillaume d'Orange_. The Hague, 1854.
[23] Ed. P. Paris. Paris, 1848.
[24] Ed. Boca. Valenciennes, 1841.
[25] Ed. Scheler. Brussels, 1877.
[26] Ed. Barrois. Paris, 1842.
[27] There exists a Provencal version of it, evidently translated from
the French. The most convenient edition is that of Kroeber and Servois,
Paris, 1860. There is an English fourteenth-century version published by
Mr. Herrtage for the Early English Text Society, 1879.
[28] Published partially by MM. P. Paris and E. du Meril and by Herr
Stengel.
[29] Ed. Le Glay. Paris, 1840.
[30] Ed. Michel. Paris, 1856.
[31] Ed. La Grange. Paris, 1864.
[32] Ed. Guessard. Paris, 1866.
[33] Ed. Guessard et Grandmaison. Paris, 1860.
[34] Ed. Michelant. Stuttgart, 1862.
[35] Ed. Michel. Paris, 1839.
[36] Ed. Scheler. Brussels, 1874.
[37] Ed. Pey. Paris, 1859.
[38] Ed. Tarbe. Rheims, 1850.
[39] Ed. Michel. London, 1836.
[40] It is very commonly said that this feature is confined to the later
Chansons. This is scarcely the fact, unless by 'later' we are to
understand all except _Roland_. In _Roland_ itself the presentment is by
no means wholly complimentary.
[41] The Turoldus of _Roland_ has been already noticed. Of certain or
tolerably certain authors, Graindor de Douai (revisions of the early
crusading Chansons of 'Richard the Pilgrim,' _Antioche_, &c.), Jean de
Flagy (_Garin_), Bodel (_Les Saisnes_), and Adenes le Roi, a fertile
author or adapter of the thirteenth century, are the most noted.
[42] _Ferabras_ and _Betonnet d'Hanstone_. M. Paul Meyer has recently
edited this latter poem under the title of _Daurel et Beton_ (Paris,
1880). To these should be added a fragment, _Aigar et Maurin_, which
seems to rank with _Girartz_.
[43] There has been some reaction of late years against the scepticism
which questioned the 'Provencal Epic.' I cannot however say, though I
admit a certain disqualification for judgment (see note at beginning of
next chapter), that I see any valid reason for this reaction.