Bury, who wrote _c_. 1250 three Mary Legends (_Rom_. xxix. 27).
(iii.) An anonymous collection of sixty Mary Legends composed _c_.
1250 (Brit. Museum Old Roy. 20 B, xiv.), some of which have been
published in Suchier's _Bibliotheca Normannica_; in the _Altf. Bibl_.
See also Mussafia, "Studien zu den mittelalterlichen Marien-legenden"
in _Sitzungsh. der Wien. Akademie_ (t. cxiii., cxv., cxix., cxxiii.,
cxxix.).
[v.02 p.0033]
Another set of religious and moralizing tales is to be found in
Chardri's _Set dormans_ and _Josaphat, c._ 1216 (Koch, _Altfr. Bibl._,
1880; G. Paris, _Poèmes et légendes du moyen âge_).
(_c_) _History_.--Of far greater importance, however, are the works
which constitute Anglo-Norman historiography. The first Anglo-Norman
historiographer is Geoffrey Gaimar, who wrote his _Estorie des
Angles_ (between 1147 and 1151) for Dame Constance, wife of Robert
Fitz-Gislebert (_The Anglo-Norman Metrical Chronicle,_ Hardy and
Martin, i. ii., London, 1888). This history comprised a first part
(now lost), which was merely a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's
_Historia regum Britanniae_, preceded by a history of the Trojan War,
and a second part which carries us as far as the death of William
Rufus. For this second part he has consulted historical documents, but
he stops at the year 1087, just when he has reached the period about
which he might have been able to give us some first-hand information.
Similarly, Wace in his _Roman de Rou et des dues de Normandie_ (ed.
Andresen, Heilbronn, 1877-1879, 2 vols.), written 1160-1174, stops at
the battle of Tinchebray in 1107 just before the period for which he
would have been so useful. His _Brut_ or _Geste des Bretons_ (Le
Roux de Lincy, 1836-1838, 2 vols.), written in 1155, is merely a
translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth. "Wace," says Gaston Paris,
speaking of the _Roman de Rou_, "traduit en les abrégeant des
historiens latins que nous possédons; mais çà et là il ajoute soit des
contes populaires, par exemple sur Richard 1'er, sur Robert 1'er, soit
des particularités qu'il savait par tradition (sur ce même Robert le
magnifique, sur l'expédition de Guillaume, &c.) et qui donnent à son
oeuvre un réel intérêt historique. Sa langue est excellente; son style
clair, serré, simple, d'ordinaire assez monotone, vous plaît par sa
saveur archaïque et quelquefois par une certaine grâce et une certaine
malice."
The _History of the Dukes of Normandy_ by Benoît de Sainte-More is
based on the work of Wace. It was composed at the request of Henry II.
about 1170, and takes us as far as the year 1135 (ed. by Francisque
Michel, 1836-1844, _Collection de documents inédits,_ 3 vols.). The
43,000 lines which it contains are of but little interest to the
historian; they are too evidently the work of a _romancier courtois,_
who takes pleasure in recounting love-adventures such as those he has
described in his romance of Troy. Other works, however, give us more
trustworthy information, for example, the anonymous poem on Henry
II.'s _Conquest of Ireland_ in 1172 (ed. Francisque Michel, London,
1837), which, together with the _Expugnatio hibernica_ of Giraud de
Barri, constitutes our chief authority on this subject. The _Conquest
of Ireland_ was republished in 1892 by Goddard Henry Orpen, under the
title of _The Song of Dermot and the Earl_ (Oxford, Clarendon Press).
Similarly, Jourdain Fantosme, who was in the north of England in 1174,
wrote an account of the wars between Henry II., his sons, William the
Lion of Scotland and Louis VII., in 1173 and 1174 (_Chronicle of the
reigns of Stephen_ ... III., ed. by Joseph Stevenson and Fr. Michel,
London, 1886, pp. 202-307). Not one of these histories, however, is to
be compared in value with _The History of William the Marshal, Count
of Striguil and Pembroke,_ regent of England from 1216-1219, which was
found and subsequently edited by Paul Meyer (_Société de l'histoire de
France,_ 3 vols., 1891-1901). This masterpiece of historiography
was composed in 1225 or 1226 by a professional poet of talent at the
request of William, son of the marshal. It was compiled from the notes
of the marshal's squire, John d'Early ([+] 1230 or 1231), who shared
all the vicissitudes of his master's life and was one of the executors
of his will. This work is of great value for the history of the period
1186-1219, as the information furnished by John d'Early is either
personal or obtained at first hand. In the part which deals with the
period before 1186, it is true, there are various mistakes, due to the
author's ignorance of contemporary history, but these slight blemishes
are amply atoned for by the literary value of the work. The style
is concise, the anecdotes are well told, the descriptions short and
picturesque; the whole constitutes one of the most living pictures
of medieval society. Very pale by the side of this work appear the
_Chronique_ of Peter of Langtoft, written between 1311 and 1320, and
mainly of interest for the period 1294-1307 (ed. by T. Wright,
London, 1866-1868); the _Chronique_ of Nicholas Trevet (1258?-1328?),
dedicated to Princess Mary, daughter of Edward I. (Duffus Hardy,
_Descr. Catal._ III., 349-350); the _Scala Chronica_ compiled by
Thomas Gray of Heaton ([+] _c._ 1369), which carries us to the year
1362-1363 (ed. by J. Stevenson, Maitland Club, Edinburgh, 1836); the
_Black Prince,_ a poem by the poet Chandos, composed about 1386, and
relating the life of the Black Prince from 1346-1376 (re-edited by
Francisque Michel, London and Paris, 1883); and, lastly, the different
versions of the _Brutes,_ the form and historical importance of which
have been indicated by Paul Meyer (_Bulletin de la Société des Anciens
Textes,_ 1878, pp. 104-145), and by F.W.D. Brie (_Geschichte und
Quellen der mittelenglischen Prosachronik, The Brute of England or The
Chronicles of England,_ Marburg, 1905).
Finally we may mention, as ancient history, the translation of
Eutropius and Dares, by Geoffrey of Waterford (13th century), who
gave also the _Secret des Secrets,_ a translation from a work wrongly
attributed to Aristotle, which belongs to the next division (_Rom._
xxiii. 314).
_Didactic Literature_.--This is the most considerable, if not the most
interesting, branch of Anglo-Norman literature: it comprises a
large number of works written chiefly with the object of giving both
religious and profane instruction to Anglo-Norman lords and ladies.
The following list gives the most important productions arranged in
chronological order:--
Philippe de Thaun, _Comput, c_. 1119 (edited by E. Mall, Strassburg,
1873), poem on the calendar; _Bestiaire, c_. 1130 (ed. by E. Walberg,
Paris, 1900; cf. G. Paris, _Rom._ xxxi. 175); _Lois de Guillaume le
Conquérant_ (redaction between 1150 and 1170, ed. by J.E. Matzke,
Paris, 1899); _Oxford Psalter, c_. 1150 (Fr. Michel, _Libri Psalmorum
versio antiqua gallica_, Oxford, 1860); _Cambridge Psalter, c_. 1160
(Fr. Michel, _Le Livre des Psaumes,_ Paris, 1877); _London Psalter,_
same as Oxford Psalter (cf. Beyer, _Zt. f. rom. Phil._ xi. 513-534;
xii. 1-56); _Disticha Catonis_, translated by Everard de Kirkham and
Elie de Winchester (Stengel, _Ausg. u. Abhandlungen_); _Le Roman de
fortune_, summary of Boetius' _De consolatione philosophiae,_ by
Simon de Fresne (_Hist. lit._ xxviii. 408); _Quatre livres des rois_,
translated into French in the 12th century, and imitated in England
soon after (P. Schlösser, _Die Lautverhältnisse der quatre livres des
rois,_ Bonn, 1886; _Romania,_ xvii. 124); _Donnei des Amanz,_, the
conversation of two lovers, overheard and carefully noted by the
poet, of a purely didactic character, in which are included three
interesting pieces, the first being an episode of the story of
Tristram, the second a fable, _L'homme et le serpent,_ the third a
tale, _L'homme et l'oiseau_, which is the basis of the celebrated
_Lai de l'oiselet_ (_Rom._ xxv. 497); _Livre des Sibiles_ (1160);
_Enseignements Trebor_, by Robert de Ho (=Hoo, Kent, on the left bank
of the Medway) [edited by Mary Vance Young, Paris; Picard, 101; cf.
G. Paris, _Rom._ xxxii. 141]; _Lapidaire de Cambridge_ (Pannier, _Les
Lapidaires français_); Frére Angier de Ste. Frideswide, _Dialogues,_
29th of November 1212 (_Rom._ xii. 145-208, and xxix.; M.K. Pope,
_Étude sur la langue de Frère Angier,_ Paris, 1903); _Li dialoge
Grégoire le pape_, ed. by Foerster, 1876; _Petit Plet_, by Chardri,
_c._ 1216 (Koch, _Altfr Bibliothek._ i., and Mussafia, _Z.f.r.P._
iii. 591); _Petite philosophie, c._ 1225 (_Rom._ xv. 356; xxix.
72); _Histoire de Marie et de Jésus (Rom._ xvi. 248-262); _Poème
sur l'Ancien Testament_ (_Not. et Extr._ xxxiv. 1, 210; _Soc. Anc.
Textes_, 1889, 73-74); _Le Corset_ and _Le Miroir,_ by Robert de
Gretham (_Rom._ vii. 345; xv. 296); _Lumière as Lais,_ by Pierre de
Peckham, _c._ 1250 (_Rom._ xv. 287); an Anglo-Norman redaction of
_Image du monde, c._ 1250 (_Rom._ xxi. 481); two Anglo-Norman versions
of _Quatre soeurs_ (Justice, Truth, Peace, Mercy), 13th century (ed.
by Fr. Michel, _Psautier d'Oxford,_ pp. 364-368, _Bulletin Soc. Anc.
Textes,_ 1886, 57, _Romania,_ xv. 352); another _Comput_ by Raüf de
Lenham, 1256 (P. Meyer, _Archives des missions,_ 2nd series iv.
154 and 160-164; _Rom._ xv. 285); _Le chastel d'amors,_ by Robert
Grosseteste or Greathead, bishop of Lincoln ([+] 1253) [ed. by Cooke,
_Carmina Anglo-Normannica_, 1852, Caxton Society]; _Poème sur l'amour
de Dieu et sur la haine du péché_, 13th century, second part (_Rom._
xxix. 5); _Le mariage des neuf filles du diable_ (_Rom._ xxix. 54);
_Ditie d' Urbain_, attributed without any foundation to Henry I. (P.
Meyer, _Bulletin Soc. Anc. Textes_, 1880, p. 73 and _Romania_ xxxii,
68); _Dialogue de l'évêque Saint Julien et son disciple_ (_Rom._ xxix.
21); _Poème sur l'antichrist et le jugement dernier_, by Henri d'Arci
(_Rom._ xxix. 78; _Not. et. Extr._ 35, i. 137). Wilham de Waddington
produced at the end of the 13th century his _Manuel des péchés_, which
was adapted in England by Robert of Brunne in his _Handlying Sinne_
(1303) [_Hist. lit._ xxviii. 179-207; _Rom._ xxix. 5, 47-53]; see
Furnivall,_Robert of Brunne's Handlying Synne_ (Roxb. Club, 1862);
in the 14th century we find Nicole Bozon's _Contes moralisés_ (see
above); _Traité de naturesse_ (_Rom._ xiii. 508); _Sermons_ in verse
(P. Meyer, op. cit. xlv.); _Proverbes de bon enseignement_ (op.
cit. xlvi.). We have also a few handbooks on the teaching of French.
Gautier de Biblesworth wrote such a treatise _à Madame Dyonise
de Mountechensi pur aprise de langage_ (Wright, _A Volume of
Vocabularies_; P. Meyer, _Rec. d'anc. textes_, p. 360 and _Romania_
xxxii, 22); _Orthographia gallica_ (Sturzinger, _Altfr. Bibl._ 1884);
_La manière de language_, written in 1396 (P. Meyer, _Rev. crit.
d'hist. et de litt._ nos. compl. de 1870); _Un petit livre pour
enseigner les enfants de leur entreparler comun françois_, c. 1399
(Stengel, _Z. für n.f. Spr. u. Litt._ i. 11). The important _Mirour
de l'omme_, by John Gower, contains about 30,000 lines written in very
good French at the end of the 14th century (Macaulay, _The Complete
Works of John Gower_, i., Oxford, 1899).
[v.02 p.0034]
_Hagiography_.--Among the numerous lives of saints written in
Anglo-Norman the most important ones are the following, the list of
which is given in chronological order:--_Voyage de Saint Brandan_ (or
_Brandain_), written in 1121, by an ecclesiastic for Queen Aelis of
Louvain (_Rom. St._ i. 553-588; _Z.f.r.P._ ii. 438-459; _Rom._ xviii.
203. C. Wahlund, _Die altfr. Prosaübersetz. von Brendan's Meerfahrt_,
Upsala, 1901); life of St. Catherine by Clemence of Barking (_Rom._
xiii. 400, Jarnik, 1894); life of St Giles, c. 1170, by Guillaume de
Berneville (_Soc. Anc. Textes fr._, 1881; _Rom._ xi. and xxiii. 94);
life of St. Nicholas, life of Our Lady, by Wace (Delius, 1850; Stengel,
_Cod. Digby_, 66); Uhlemann, _Gram. Krit. Studien zu Wace's Conception
und Nicolas_, 1878; life of St. George by Simon de Fresne (_Rom._ x.
319; J.E. Matzke, _Public. of the Mod. Lang. Ass. of Amer._ xvii.
1902; _Rom._ xxxiv. 148); _Expurgatoire de Ste. Patrice_, by Marie de
France (Jenkins, 1894; Eckleben, _Aelteste Schilderung vom Fegefeuer
d.H. Patricius_, 1851; Ph. de Felice, 1906); _La vie de St. Edmund le
Rei_, by Denis Pyramus, end of 12th century (_Memorials of St. Edmund's
Abbey_, edited by T. Arnold, ii. 1892; _Rom._ xxii. 170); Henri
d'Arci's life of St. Thais, poem on the Antichrist, _Visio S. Pauli_
(P. Meyer, _Not. et Extr._ xxxv. 137-158); life of St. Gregory the
Great by Frère Angier, 30th of April 1214 (_Rom._ viii. 509-544; ix.
176; xviii. 201); life of St. Modwenna, between 1225 and 1250 (Suchier,
_Die dem Matthäus Paris zugeschriebene Vie de St. Auban_, 1873, pp.
54-58); Fragments of a life of St Thomas Becket, c. 1230 (P. Meyer,
_Soc. Anc. Text. fr._, 1885); and another life of the same by Benoit
of St. Alban, 13th century (Michel, _Chron. des ducs de Normandie;
Hist. Lit._ xxiii. 383); a life of Edward the Confessor, written
before 1245 (Luard, _Lives of Edward the Confessor_, 1858; _Hist.
Lit._ xxvii. 1), by an anonymous monk of Westminster; life of
St. Auban, c. 1250 (Suchier, op. cit.; Uhlemann, "Über die vie de
St. Auban in Bezug auf Quelle," &c. _Rom. St._ iv. 543-626; ed. by
Atkinson, 1876). _The Vision of Tnudgal_, an Anglo-Norman fragment, is
preserved in MS. 312, Trinity College, Dublin; the MS. is of the
14th century; the author seems to belong to the 13th (_La vision de
Tondale_, ed. by Friedel and Kuno Meyer, 1906). In this category we
may add the life of Hugh of Lincoln, 13th century (_Hist. Lit._ xxiii.
436; Child, _The English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, 1888, p. v;
Wolter, _Bibl. Anglo-Norm._, ii. 115). Other lives of saints were
recognized to be Anglo-Norman by Paul Meyer when examining the MSS.
of the Welbeck library (_Rom._ xxxii. 637 and _Hist. Lit._ xxxiii.
338-378).
_Lyric Poetry._--The only extant songs of any importance are the
seventy-one _Ballads_ of Gower (Stengel, _Gower's Minnesang_, 1886).
The remaining songs are mostly of a religious character. Most of them
have been discovered and published by Paul Meyer (_Bulletin de la Soc.
Anc. Textes_, 1889; _Not. et Extr._ xxxiv; _Rom._ xiii. 518, t. xiv.
370; xv. p. 254, &c.). Although so few have come down to us such songs
must have been numerous at one time, owing to the constant intercourse
between English, French and Provençals of all classes. An interesting
passage in _Piers Plowman_ furnishes us with a proof of the extent to
which these songs penetrated into England. We read of:
"... dykers and deluers that doth here dedes ille,
And dryuen forth the longe day with 'Deu, vous saue,
Dame Emme!'" (Prologue, 223 f.)
One of the finest productions of Anglo-Norman lyric poetry written
in the end of the 13th century, is the _Plainte d'amour_ (Vising,
Göteborg, 1905; _Romania_ xiii. 507, xv. 292 and xxix. 4), and we may
mention, merely as literary curiosities, various works of a lyrical
character written in two languages, Latin and French, or English and
French, or even in three languages, Latin, English and French. In
_Early English Lyrics_ (Oxford, 1907) we have a poem in which a lover
sends to his mistress a love-greeting composed in three languages,
and his learned friend replies in the same style (_De amico ad amicam,
Responcio_, viii and ix).
_Satire_.--The popularity enjoyed by the _Roman de Renart_ and the
Anglo-Norman version of the _Riote du Monde_ (_Z.f. rom. Phil._ viii.
275-289) in England is proof enough that the French spirit of satire
was keenly appreciated. The clergy and the fair sex presented the
most attractive target for the shots of the satirists. However, an
Englishman raised his voice in favour of the ladies in a poem entitled
_La Bonté des dames_ (Meyer, _Rom._ xv. 315-339), and Nicole Bozon,
after having represented "Pride" as a feminine being whom he supposes
to be the daughter of Lucifer, and after having fiercely attacked
the women of his day in the _Char d'Orgueil_ (_Rom._ xiii. 516), also
composed a _Bounté des femmes_ (P. Meyer, op. cit. 33) in which he
covers them with praise, commending their courtesy, their humility,
their openness and the care with which they bring up their children.
A few pieces of political satire show us French and English exchanging
amenities on their mutual shortcomings. The _Roman des Français_, by
André de Coutances, was written on the continent, and cannot be quoted
as Anglo-Norman although it was composed before 1204 (cf. Gaston
Paris: _Trois versions rimées de l'évangile de Nicodème, Soc. Anc.
Textes_, 1885), it is a very spirited reply to French authors who had
attacked the English.
_Dramatic Literature_.--This must have had a considerable influence on
the development of the sacred drama in England, but none of the
French plays acted in England in the 12th and 13th centuries has been
preserved. _Adam_, which is generally considered to be an Anglo-Norman
mystery of the 12th century, was probably written in France at
the beginning of the 13th century (_Romania_ xxxii. 637), and the
so-called Anglo-Norman _Resurrection_ belongs also to continental
French. It is necessary to state that the earliest English moralities
seem to have been imitations of the French ones.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Apart from the works already mentioned see generally:
Scheibner, "Über die Herrschaft der frz. Sprache in England"
(Annaberg, Progr. der Königlichen Realschule, 1880, 38 f.); Groeber,
_Grundr. der romanischen Philologie_, ii. iii. (Strassburg, 1902); G.
Paris, _La Litt. fr. au moyen âge_ (1905); _Esquisse historique de
la litt. fr. au moyen âge_ (1907); _La Litt. norm, avani l'annexion
912-1204_ (Paris, 1899); "L'Esprit normand en Angleterre," _La
Poésie au moyen âge_ (2nd series 45-74, Paris, 1906); Thomas Wright,
_Biographia britannica literaria_ (Anglo-Norman period, London, 1846);
Ten Brink, _Geschichte der englischen Litteratur_ (Berlin, 1877, i.
2); J.J. Jusserand, _Hist. litt. du peuple anglais_ (2nd ed. 1895,
vol. i.); W.H. Schofield, _English Literature from the Norman Conquest
to Chaucer_ (London, 1906); Johan Vising, _Franska Sprâket i England_
(Göteborg, 1900, 1901, 1902).
(L. BR.)
[v.02 p.0035]