Table Of ContentMEDIEVAL FRENCH LITERATURE
Medieval French
Literature
BY
JESSIE CROSLAND
Author of * The Old French Epic’
BASIL BLACKWELL
OXFORD
1956
Printed in Great Britain for Basil Blackwell & Mott, Limited
by A. R. Mowbray & Co. Limited in the City of Oxford
and bound at the Kemp Hall Bindery
FOREWORD
In any account of Medieval French literature it is inevitable that
attention should be mainly directed to the works produced during
the second half of the twelfth and the first half of the thirteenth
centuries—a period marked by an outburst of literary activity in
France which had its repercussions over almost the whole of Europe.
In the course of these hundred or so years many works of real
literary value made their appearance, and the language in which
they were clothed was a fit medium for their contents. But although
the output in the vulgar tongue before this period of flowering was
relatively small, yet the seeds were there and it would be impossible
to consider this remarkable floraison without reference to what
preceded it. There was, in fact, much promise of what was to come
—indeed, there are many signs that a considerable work of prepara
tion had been going on of which but a scanty record has survived.
This I have tried to indicate in the introductory chapter. Later my
chief aim has been to emphasize certain outstanding features which
emerge from a careful study of the more important texts and trace
their development during the period mentioned. In types already
existing, such as the drama or the animal fables, I have tried to
indicate the specifically medieval stamp which was affixed to already
existing themes. Origins, always so elusive, whether epic or lyric
in character, have been less studied than development, especially
where this synchronizes with the fast-moving social changes of an
unsettled age. The disorders of the twelfth century which affected
England and much of France so profoundly under the Angevin
kings cannot be too much stressed, whether in considering the
gloomy character of the Anglo-Norman religious poetry, or the
romantic nature of what clearly constituted a kind of escape litera
ture produced in the artificial atmosphere of the courts.
Many omissions will doubtless be noted in the following pages
as mainly representative works and authors have been chosen for
somewhat detailed study. The most notable omission, however,
springs from a different cause. The three main epic cycles have
deliberately been left aside as so many reliable works on this subject
are easily available. It seemed of greater importance to show the
subsequent development, of this outstanding genre when the heroic
Vi FOREWORD
ideal was extended to a different stratum of society. Another un
avoidable feature of the present work is a certain amount of over
lapping—fact and fiction rub shoulders together in the chronicles
and histories; story-telling invades every form of literature—even
that of a serious, didactic nature, so that the types are very difficult
to treat apart.
Other technical difficulties are bound to arise when dealing with
a period in which the language is not yet completely fixed, and
especially when dialectal forms differ as widely as they do between
the language employed in England (even by writers of French
birth) and that spoken in the He de France. The question as to the
translation of extracts is also a difficult one. These have been mainly
left in the original as the book is intended primarily for those who
have some knowledge of Old French. A few obscure expressions
have, however, been supplied with an English equivalent. The
number of line is not invariably given where the passage occurs in
a short text or when the quotation is taken from a not very well
authenticated or hitherto unpublished text. Some inconsistencies in
such technical matters are almost impossible to avoid in a work of
this kind. There would have been many more had it not been for
the invaluable assistance öf Miss Moore (the Librarian of Westfield
College) in reading the proofs and compiling the Index. I owe
grateful thanks, too, to Miss Dickinson (Reader in French at West-
field College) who read many of the chapters in manuscript, and
acknowledgements to Dr. Robson of Oxford who made some
suggestions in the early stages which caused a salutary reconstruction
of certain sections of the work. The subject is such a vast one that
the selective method is imposed from the outset unless a mere
catalogue of texts is envisaged. I would like to think that, besides
being a guide to students of this fascinating period, some suggestions
may have been thrown out which may lead more advanced students
to further investigations. Most of the texts are now available in
trustworthy editions and the possibilities for comparative studies
and works of synthesis are greater than ever before.
Jessie Crosland
ABBREVIATIONS
Ane. poètes. Anciens poètes de la France publiés sous la direction
de M. F. Guessard. Paris 1858-70.
Ausg. u. Abh. Ausgaben und Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiet der
romanischen Philologie. Herausg. E. Stengel. i88iff.
Bibi. Norm. Bibliotheca Normannica. Herausg. von H. Suchier.
Halle 1879fr.
CFMA. Les Classiques français du moyen âge, publiés sous la
direction de Mario Roques. i9ioff.
Cl. de l’Hist. de France. Classiques de F Histoire de France au moyen
âge, publ. sous la direction de Louis Halphen. Paris 1923 etc.
Paul Meyer, Recueil. Recueil d’anciens textes bas-latins, pro
vençaux et français. 2 vols. Paris 1874,1877.
Rom. des XII Pairs. Romans des douze pairs de France. Paris
1833-1843.
SATF. Société des anciens textes français. Paris, Firmin-Didot,
1875fr.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
Foreword . . . . . v
I. Introductory. Literature before iioo . . i
II. Didactic Literature: {a) Sermons, (b) Hagiography,
(c) The W isdom of the Ages . . .1 5
III. Lyric Poetry . . . . .4 7
IV. The R omantic Epic, or Roman Courtois: Part I,
Mauere de Rome; Part II, Romances with Ori-
' ental colouring; Part III, Matière de Bretagnb . 67
V. Story-telling in the Middle Ages . . . 124
VI. Secular and Middle Class Literature . 143
VII. The Evolution of the Chansons-de~Geste . 165
VIH. Chroniclers and Historians . . .195
IX. The Growth of Drama in the Twelfth Century:
I, Religious Drama; II, Secular Drama . . 219
X. Animal Literature: I, The Bestiaries; II, The Roman*
de Renard . . . . . . 244
Index of Proper Names 258
IX
