Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles
LC Class | PQ1553.C33 D83 1996 |
The Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles ("One Hundred New Novellas") is a collection of stories supposed to be narrated by various persons at the court of Philippe le Bon, and collected together by Antoine de la Sale in the mid-15th century.
The nouvelles are, according to George Saintsbury, "undoubtedly the first work of literary prose in French ... The short prose tale of a comic character is the one French literary product the pre-eminence and perfection of which it is impossible to dispute, and the prose tale first appears to advantage in the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles."
Antoine de la Sale is supposed to have been the "acteur" in the collection of the licentious stories. One only of the stories is given in his name, but he is credited with the compilation of the whole, for which Louis XI was long held responsible. A completed copy of this was presented to the Duke of Burgundy at Dijon in 1462.
The stories give curious glimpses of life in the 15th century, providing a genuine view of the social condition of the nobility and the middle classes. M. Lenient, a French critic, says: "Generally the incidents and personages belong to the bourgeoisée; there is nothing chivalric, nothing wonderful; no dreamy lovers, romantic dames, fairies, or enchanters. Noble dames, bourgeois, nuns, knights, merchants, monks, and peasants mutually dupe each other. The lord deceives the miller's wife by imposing on her simplicity, and the miller retaliates in much the same manner. The shepherd marries the knight's sister, and the nobleman is not over scandalized. The vices of the monks are depicted in half a score tales, and the seducers are punished with a severity not always in proportion to the offence."
History of the book
It was first translated into English in 1899 by
In addition to this, there is the history of the book itself, and its connection with one of the most important personages in French history —
The circumstances under which these stories came to be narrated involve the period from 1456 to 1461, when Louis was estranged from his father,
For four centuries Louis XI was credited with the authorship of the tales mentioned. The first person to throw any doubt on his claim was Thomas Wright, who edited an edition of the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles published by Jannet, Paris, 1858. He maintained, with some show of reason, that as the stories were told in Burgundy, by Burgundians, and the collected tales were "edited" by de la Salle, it was more probable that "Monseigneur" would mean the Duke than the Dauphin, and he therefore ascribed the stories to Philippe le Bel. Later French scholars, however, appear to be of the opinion that "Monseigneur" was the Comte de Charolais, who afterwards became famous as Charles le Téméraire, the last Duke of Burgundy.
Some thirty-two noblemen or squires contributed the other stories, with some 14 or 15 taken from
See also
References
- This article is based on the preface to the 1899 English translation of Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles by Robert B. Douglas
- For a more recent treatment, see Graeme Small, ed., The Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles (Burgundy-Luxembourg-France, 1458 – c. 1550): Text and Paratext, Codex and Context (Brepols, 2023).
External links
- One Hundred Merrie And Delightsome Stories, an English translation by Robert B. Douglas, 1899, from Project Gutenberg