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66-526: In the tenth or eleventh century, a Latin hagiography, the Vita sancti Willelmi , was composed. By the twelfth century, William's legend had grown. He is the hero of an entire cycle of chansons de geste , the earliest of which is the Chanson de Guillaume of about 1140. In the chansons , he is nicknamed Fièrebrace (fierce or strong arm) on account of his strength and the marquis au court nez (margrave with

132-475: A battle with a giant), Guillaum de Narbonne and Guillaume d'Orange. These legends turn his wife into a converted Saracen, Orable, later christened Guibourc. Chansons de geste The chanson de geste ( Old French for 'song of heroic deeds', from Latin : gesta 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature . The earliest known poems of this genre date from

198-432: A casket for unguents, and hence as the title of a number of medical works. Use for the architectural feature of church building is medieval ( Byzantine Greek ), in use by the 12th century ( Etymologicum Magnum ). English use dates from the 1670s. It isn't clear how this meaning was derived, allegedly from a resemblance of the entrance area of the church to a hollow stem. In Modern Greek narthekas (νάρθηκας) no longer has

264-468: A common meal, similar to the agape feast of the early church . To this day, this is where the faithful will bring their baskets at Pascha (Easter) for the priest to bless the Paschal foods which they will then take back to their homes for the festive break-fast . Traditionally, the narthex is where candles and prosphora will be sold for offering during Divine Services . The doorway leading from

330-629: A few other works translated from the cycle of Charlemagne in the 13th century, the chansons de geste were not adapted into German, and it is believed that this was because the epic poems lacked what the romances specialized in portraying: scenes of idealized knighthood, love and courtly society. In the late 13th century, certain French chansons de geste were adapted into the Old Norse Karlamagnús saga . In Italy , there exist several 14th-century texts in verse or prose which recount

396-474: 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. These forms of versification were substantially different than

462-446: A monk and eventually died there on 28 May 812 (or 814). When he died, it was said the bells at Orange rang on their own accord. William mentioned both his family and monastery in his will: his will of 28 January 804, names his wives Cunegonde and Witburgis, his deceased parents, Theodoric/Thierry and Aldana, two brothers, Theodino and Adalelmo, two sisters, Abbana and Bertana, four children, Barnard , Witcher, Gotzelm and Helimburgis, and

528-412: A nephew, Bertrano. In addition, he had a son Heribert, a daughter Gerberge, and perhaps a daughter Rotlinde. Gellone remained under the control of the abbots of Aniane. It became a subject of contention, however, as the reputation of William grew. So many pilgrims were attracted to Gellone that his corpse was exhumed from the modest site in the narthex and given a more prominent place under the choir, to

594-424: A popular tradition) and "individualists" ( chansons created by a unique author), but more recent historical research has done much to fill in gaps in the literary record and complicate the question of origins. Critics have discovered manuscripts, texts and other traces of the legendary heroes, and further explored the continued existence of a Latin literary tradition (c.f. the scholarship of Ernst Robert Curtius ) in

660-426: A renewed epic spirit and nationalistic (or propagandistic ) fervor to some chansons de geste (such as La Chanson de Hugues Capet ). The poems contain an assortment of character types; the repertoire of valiant hero, brave traitor, shifty or cowardly traitor, Saracen giant, beautiful Saracen princess, and so forth. As the genre matured, fantasy elements were introduced. Some of the characters that were devised by

726-650: 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 were composed in monorhyme stanzas, in which the last syllable of each line rhymes fully throughout the stanza. Later chansons also tended to be composed using alexandrines (twelve-syllable) lines, instead of ten-syllable lines (some early chansons , such as Girart de Vienne , were even adapted into

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792-458: A twelve-syllable version). The following example of the twelve-syllable rhymed form 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

858-536: Is conceivable that few spectators heard the longest works in their entirety. While poems like The Song of Roland were sometimes heard in public squares and were no doubt warmly received by a broad public, some critics caution that the chansons should probably not be characterized as popular literature and some chansons appear particularly tailored for an audience of aristocratic, privileged or warrior classes. More than one hundred chansons de geste have survived in around three hundred manuscripts that date from

924-505: Is included by the Catalan troubadour Guiraut de Cabrera in his humorous ensenhamen Cabra juglar : this is addressed to a juglar (jongleur) and purports to instruct him on the poems he ought to know but does not. 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

990-405: The Chanson de Roland illustrates the technique of the ten-syllable assonanced form. 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

1056-547: The Byzantine Chora Church . By extension, the narthex can also denote a covered porch or entrance to a building. The original meaning of the Classical Greek word narthex νάρθηξ was " giant fennel ". Derived meanings are from the use of the fennel stalk as thyrsus , as a schoolmaster's cane, as a singlestick for military exercise, or as a splint for a broken limb. The term was also used for

1122-530: The First Crusade and its immediate aftermath. The chansons de geste reached their apogee in the period 1150–1250. By the middle of the 13th century, public taste in France had begun to abandon these epics, preferring, rather, the romances. As the genre progressed in the middle of the 13th century, only certain traits (like versification, laisse structure, formulaic forms, setting, and other clichés of

1188-634: The Gascons . In 793, Hisham I , the successor of Abd ar-Rahman I , proclaimed a holy war against the Christians to the north. He amassed an army of 100,000 men, half of which attacked the Kingdom of Asturias while the other half invaded Languedoc , penetrating as far as Narbonne . William met this force and defeated them. He met the Muslim forces again near the river Orbieu at Villedaigne but

1254-546: The Little Hours during Holy Week are celebrated there, rather than in the main body of the church. In the Russian Orthodox Church funerals are traditionally held in the narthex. Later reforms removed the requirement to exclude people from services who were not full members of the congregation, which in some traditions obviated the narthex. Church architects continued, however, to build a room before

1320-642: The Lombards . Among his seven sons and five daughters (one of whom marries Louis the Pious) is William. The defeat of the Moors at Orange was given legendary treatment in the 12th-century epic La Prise d'Orange . There, he was made Count of Toulouse in the stead of the disgraced Chorso, then King of Aquitaine in 778. He is difficult to separate from the legends and poems that gave him feats of arms, lineage and titles: Guillaume Fièrebras, Guillaum au Court-Nez (broken in

1386-621: The Moors and Saracens , and also disputes between kings and their vassals. 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 , 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 ,

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1452-519: The Old Spanish tradition of the cantar de gesta . The chanson de geste was also adapted in southern ( Occitan-speaking ) France. One of the three surviving manuscripts of the chanson Girart de Roussillon (12th century) is in Occitan, as are two works based on the story of Charlemagne and Roland, Rollan a Saragossa and Ronsasvals (early 12th century). The chanson de geste form

1518-406: The chansons de geste and old Germanic/ Merovingian tales, posited a Germanic origin for the French poems. A different theory, introduced by the medievalist Paul Meyer , suggested the poems were based on old prose narrations of the original events. Another theory (largely discredited today ), developed by Joseph Bédier , posited that the early chansons were recent creations, not earlier than

1584-428: The chansons de geste were originally sung (whereas the medieval romances were probably spoken) by poets, minstrels or 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. By

1650-405: The chansons de geste , into three cycles , which revolved around three main characters (see quotation at Matter of France ). 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 13th century, in which a jongleur lists the stories he knows. Another

1716-594: The diocese of Maguelonne . He granted property to Gellone and placed the monastery under the general control of Benedict of Aniane , whose monastery was nearby. Among his gifts to the abbey he founded was a piece of the True Cross , a present from his cousin Charlemagne. Charlemagne had received the relic from the Patriarch of Jerusalem according to the Vita of William. In 806, William retired to Gellone as

1782-442: The 12th to the 15th century. Since the 19th century, much critical debate has centered on the origins of the chansons de geste , and particularly on explaining the length of time between the composition of the chansons and the actual historical events which they reference. The historical events the chansons allude to occur in the 8th through 10th centuries, yet the earliest chansons that have survived were probably composed at

1848-448: The 12th to the 15th 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. By the middle of the 12th century, the corpus of works was being expanded principally by "cyclisation", that is to say by the formation of "cycles" of chansons attached to a character or group of characters—with new chansons being added to

1914-508: The French narrative material (the Pulci, Boiardo and Ariosto poems are founded on the legends of the paladins of Charlemagne, and particularly, of Roland, translated as "Orlando"). The incidents and plot devices of the Italian epics 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

1980-506: The Infidel (in practice, Muslim ) enemy. 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. 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 . Not listed by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube, this cycle deals with

2046-597: The categorization of individual chansons . 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 ". 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

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2112-432: The classical meaning and is either the porch of a church, as English, or the brace of a sprained wrist or sling of a broken arm. In English the narthex is now the porch outside the church at the west end ; formerly it was a part of the church building itself, albeit not considered part of the church proper, used as the place for penitents . The purpose of the narthex was to allow those not eligible for admittance into

2178-446: The complexities of feudal relations and service. The subject matter of the chansons evolved over time, according to public taste. Alongside the great battles and scenes of historic prowess of the early chansons there began to appear other themes. Realistic elements (money, urban scenes) and elements from the new court culture (female characters, the role of love) began to appear. Other fantasy and adventure elements, derived from

2244-416: The cycle, however, is devoted to the feats of his father, there named Aymeri de Narbonne , who has received Narbonne as his seigniory after his return from Spain with Charlemagne. Details of the "Aymeri" of the poem are conflated with a later historic figure who was truly the viscount of Narbonne from 1108 to 1134. In the chanson he is awarded Ermengart, daughter of Didier, and sister of Boniface, king of

2310-492: The early chansons were first written down and then read from manuscripts (although parchment was quite expensive ) or memorized for performance, or whether portions were improvised, or whether they were entirely the product of spontaneous oral composition and later written down. Similarly, scholars differ greatly on the social condition and literacy of the poets themselves; were they cultured clerics or illiterate jongleurs working within an oral tradition? As an indication of

2376-471: The end of the 11th century: only three chansons de geste have a composition that incontestably dates from before 1150: the Chanson de Guillaume , The Song of Roland and Gormont et Isembart : the first half of the Chanson de Guillaume may date from as early as the 11th century; Gormont et Isembart may date from as early as 1068, according to one expert; and The Song of Roland probably dates from after 1086 to c.1100. Three early theories of

2442-526: The ensemble by singing of the earlier or later adventures of the hero, of his youthful exploits ("enfances"), the great deeds of his ancestors or descendants, or his retreat from the world to a convent ("moniage") – or attached to an event (like the Crusades). 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

2508-540: The entrance of the nave. This room could be called an inside vestibule (if it is architecturally part of the nave structure) or a porch (if it is a distinct, external structure). Some traditions still call this area the narthex as it represents the point of entry into the church, even if everyone is admitted to the nave itself. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , the esonarthex and exonarthex had, and still have, distinct liturgical functions. For instance,

2574-402: The entrance or vestibule , located at the west end of the nave , opposite the church's main altar . Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper. In early Christian churches the narthex was often divided into two distinct parts: an esonarthex (inner narthex) between the west wall and the body of the church proper, separated from

2640-506: The epics. This was the basis for the " cantilena " theory of epic origin, which was elaborated by Gaston Paris , although he maintained that single authors, rather than the multitude, were responsible for the songs. This theory was also supported by Robert Fawtier and by Léon Gautier (although Gautier thought the cantilenae were composed in Germanic languages). At the end of the 19th century, Pio Rajna , seeing similarities between

2706-909: The feats of Charlemagne in Spain , including a chanson de geste in Franco-Venetian , the Entrée d'Espagne (c.1320) (notable for transforming the character of Roland into a knight errant , similar to heroes from the Arthurian romances ), and a similar Italian epic La Spagna (1350–1360) in ottava rima . Through such works, the "Matter of France" became an important source of material (albeit significantly transformed) in Italian romantic epics. Morgante (c.1483) by Luigi Pulci , Orlando innamorato (1495) by Matteo Maria Boiardo , Orlando furioso (1516) by Ludovico Ariosto , and Jerusalem Delivered (1581) by Torquato Tasso are all indebted to

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2772-631: The first French epics to be translated into German (by Konrad der Pfaffe as the Rolandslied , c.1170), and the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach based his (incomplete) 13th century epic Willehalm (consisting of seventy-eight manuscripts) on the Aliscans , a work in the cycle of William of Orange (Eschenbach's work had a great success in Germany), these remained isolated examples. Other than

2838-518: The forms found in the Old French verse romances ( romans ) which were written in octosyllabic rhymed couplets . The public of the chansons de geste —the lay (secular) public of the 11th to the 13th centuries—was largely illiterate , except for (at least to the end of the 12th century) members of the great courts and (in the south) smaller noble families. Thus, the chansons were primarily an oral medium. Opinions vary greatly on whether

2904-501: The general congregation (particularly catechumens and penitents ) to hear and partake of the service. The narthex would often include a baptismal font so that infants or adults could be baptized there before entering the nave, and to remind other believers of their baptisms as they gathered to worship. The narthex is thus traditionally a place of penitence, and in Eastern Christianity some penitential services, such as

2970-479: The genre) remained to set the chansons apart from the romances. The 15th century saw the cycles of chansons (along with other chronicles) converted into large prose compilations (such as the compilation made by David Aubert ). Yet, the themes of the epics continued to exert an influence through the 16th century. The chansons de geste created a body of mythology that lived on well after they ceased to be produced in France. The French chanson gave rise to

3036-621: The intense dissatisfaction of the Abbey of Aniane. A number of forged documents and assertions were produced on each side that leave details of actual history doubtful. The abbey was a major stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela . Its late-12th-century Romanesque cloister , systematically dismantled during the French Revolution , found its way to The Cloisters in New York . The Sacramentary of Gellone , dating to

3102-401: The intervening centuries. The work of Jean Rychner on the art of the minstrels and the work of Parry and Lord on Yugoslavian oral traditional poetry, Homeric verse and oral composition have also been suggested to shed light on the oral composition of the chansons , although this view is not without its critics who maintain the importance of writing not only in the preservation of

3168-508: The late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly before the emergence of the lyric poetry of the troubadours and trouvères , and the earliest verse romances . They reached their highest point of acceptance in the period 1150–1250. Composed in verse, these narrative poems of moderate length (averaging 4000 lines ) were originally sung, or (later) recited, by minstrels or jongleurs. More than one hundred chansons de geste have survived in approximately three hundred manuscripts that date from

3234-412: The late 8th century, is a famous manuscript. William's faithful service to Charlemagne is portrayed as an example of feudal loyalty. William's career battling Saracens is sung in epic poems in the 12th- and 13th-century cycle called La Geste de Garin de Monglane , some two dozen chansons de geste that actually center around William, the great-grandson of the largely legendary Garin. One section of

3300-443: The life of Julius Cæsar and some of his Imperial successors, who were given medieval makeovers as exemplars of chivalry . A key theme of the chansons de geste , which set them off from the romances (which tended to explore the role of the "individual"), is their critique and celebration of community/collectivity (their epic heroes are portrayed as figures in the destiny of the nation and Christianity) and their representation of

3366-510: The middle of the 13th century, singing had probably given way to recitation. It has been calculated that a reciter could sing about a thousand verses an hour and probably limited himself to 1000–1300 verses by performance, making it likely that the performance of works extended over several days. Given that many chansons from the late 12th century on extended to over 10,000 verses or more (for example, Aspremont comprises 11,376 verses, while Quatre Fils Aymon comprises 18,489 verses), it

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3432-514: The narthex to the nave is sometimes referred to as the "Royal Doors", because in major cathedrals ( catholica ) there were several sets of doors leading into the nave, the central one being reserved only for the use of the Byzantine emperor . On feast days there will be a procession to the narthex, followed by intercessory prayers, called the Litiy . In Armenia the local style of narthex

3498-563: The nave and aisles by a wall, arcade , colonnade , screen, or rail, and an external closed space, the exonarthex (outer narthex), a court in front of the church façade delimited on all sides by a colonnade as in the first St. Peter's Basilica in Rome or in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan . The exonarthex may have been either open or enclosed with a door leading to the outside, as in

3564-587: The one in the Nibelungenlied and in creole legends by Henri Wittmann on the basis of common narreme structure as first developed in the work of Eugene Dorfman and Jean-Pierre Tusseau Early chansons de geste were typically composed in ten-syllable lines grouped in assonanced (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 (called laisses ). These stanzas are of variable length. An example from

3630-441: The origin of chansons de geste believe in the continued existence of epic material (either as lyric poems, epic poems or prose narrations) in these intervening two or three centuries. Critics like Claude Charles Fauriel , François Raynouard and German Romanticists like Jacob Grimm posited the spontaneous creation of lyric poems by the people as a whole at the time of the historic battles, which were later put together to form

3696-562: The poets in this genre 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 . The narrative structure of the chanson de geste has been compared to

3762-597: The procession at the Paschal Vigil will end up at the exonarthex for the reading of the Resurrection Gospel , while certain penitential services are traditionally chanted in the esonarthex. In some Eastern Orthodox temples , the narthex will be referred to as the trapeza (refectory), because in ancient times, tables would be set up there after the Divine Liturgy for the faithful to eat

3828-401: 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. Scholarly opinions differ on the exact manner of recitation, but it is generally believed that

3894-488: The romances, were 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 . The conflicts of the 14th century ( Hundred Years' War ) brought

3960-458: The short nose) on account of an injury suffered in battle with a giant. William was born in northern France in the mid-8th century, to Thierry IV , Count of Autun , and his wife Aldana . He was a relative of Charlemagne . The relationship is speculated to have come through William's mother, perhaps a daughter of Charles Martel , or through Thierry, apparently a close kinsman of Charlemagne's maternal great-grandmother ( Bertrada of Prüm ), with

4026-483: The texts, but also in their composition, especially for the more sophisticated poems. Composed in Old French and apparently intended for oral performance by jongleurs , the chansons de geste narrate legendary incidents (sometimes based on real events) in the history of France during the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, the age of Charles Martel , Charlemagne and Louis the Pious , with emphasis on their conflicts with

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4092-498: The triumph of Christianity over Islam to tell instead of the triumph of Protestantism over Roman Catholicism . The Welsh poet, painter, soldier and engraver David Jones 's Modernist poem " In Parenthesis " was described by contemporary critic Herbert Read as having "the heroic ring which we associate with the old chansons de geste". Narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of

4158-573: The two relationships not mutually exclusive. As a kinsman and trusted comes , he spent his youth in the court of Charlemagne . In 788, Chorso , Count of Toulouse , was captured by the Basque Adalric , and made to swear an oath of allegiance to the Duke of Gascony, Lupus II. Upon his release Charlemagne replaced him with his Frankish cousin William (790). William, in turn, successfully subdued

4224-524: The year 1000, developed by singers who, emulating the songs of "saints' lives" sung in front of churches (and collaborating with the church clerics ), created epic stories based on the heroes whose shrines and tombs dotted the great pilgrimage routes, as a way of drawing pilgrims to these churches. Critics have also suggested that knowledge by clerics of ancient Latin epics may have played a role in their composition. Subsequent criticism has vacillated between "traditionalists" ( chansons created as part of

4290-472: Was also used in such Occitan texts as Canso d'Antioca (late 12th century), Daurel e Betó (first half of the 13th century), and Song of the Albigensian Crusade (c.1275) (cf Occitan literature ). In medieval Germany , the chansons de geste elicited little interest from the German courtly audience, unlike the romances which were much appreciated. While The Song of Roland was among

4356-593: Was defeated , though his obstinate resistance exhausted the Muslim forces so much that they retreated to Hispania . In 801, William commanded along with Louis , King of Aquitaine a large expedition of Franks , Burgundians , Provençals , Aquitanians , Gascons ( Basques ) and Goths that captured Barcelona from the Ummayads . In 804, he founded the abbey in Gellone (now Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert ) near Lodève in

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