Chanson de Guillaume

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Chanson de Guillaume
The Song of William
by Unknown
giant
.

The poem comprises 3,553 verses in assonanced laisses; most of the verses are decasyllables, but there are occasional recurring short six-syllable lines.[2] The poem exists in only one 13th-century manuscript, written in an Anglo-Norman dialect, which only was brought to light in 1901[4] at the sale of the books of Sir Henry Hope Edwardes. The manuscript has since passed to the British Library (British Library, Add MS 38663),

It is the only chanson de geste concerning the deeds of William of Orange that was not included in the cyclic 13th-century collections of chansons de geste generally referred to as the

Geste de Guillaume d'Orange. Much of the poem's material (especially the second half) was also expanded and adapted by the later chanson de geste Aliscans
.

Historical sources

The chanson appears to be based on William of Gellone's battle at the Orbieu or Orbiel river near Carcassonne in 793.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Hasenohr, 520-522.
  2. ^ a b Holmes, 102-104.
  3. ^ Hasenohr, 239.
  4. ^ Holmes gives 1903 which is the date of its first publication.

References

  • (in French) Geneviève Hasenohr and Michel Zink, eds. Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Age. Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
    ISBN 2-253-05662-6
  • (in English) Urban T. Holmes Jr. A History of Old French Literature from the Origins to 1300. New York: F.S. Crofts, 1938.
  • (in English) Niles, John D. "Narrative Anomalies in La Chançun de Willame." Viator 9 (1978): 251-264.
Stub icon

This article related to a poem is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chanson_de_Guillaume&oldid=1164737727"