Medieval French Literature 0837189713, 9780837189710

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MEDIEVAL FRENCH LITERATURE

Medieval French Literature BY

JESSIE CROSLAND Author of *The Old French Epic’

BASIL BLACKWELL OXFORD 1956

Printed in Great Britain for B asil B lackwell & Mott, L imited by A. R. Mowbray & Co. L imited in the City of Oxford and bound at the K emp H all B indery

FO R EW O R D In any account o f Medieval French literature it is inevitable that attention should be mainly directed to the works produced during the second half o f the twelfth and the first half o f the thirteenth centuries—a period marked by an outburst o f literary activity in France which had its repercussions over almost the whole o f Europe. In the course o f these hundred or so years many works o f 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 o f 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 o f what was to come —indeed, there are many signs that a considerable work o f prepara­ tion had been going on o f 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 o f 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 o f the twelfth century which affected England and much o f France so profoundly under the Angevin kings cannot be too much stressed, whether in considering the gloomy character o f the Anglo-Norman religious poetry, or the romantic nature o f what clearly constituted a kind o f escape litera­ ture produced in the artificial atmosphere o f 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 o f greater importance to show the subsequent development, o f this outstanding genre when the heroic

Vi

FOREWORD

ideal was extended to a different stratum o f society. Another un­ avoidable feature o f the present work is a certain amount o f over­ lapping—fact and fiction rub shoulders together in the chronicles and histories; story-telling invades every form o f literature—even that o f 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 o f French birth) and that spoken in the He de France. The question as to the translation o f 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 o f Old French. A few obscure expressions have, however, been supplied with an English equivalent. The number o f 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 o f this kind. There would have been many more had it not been for the invaluable assistance ö f Miss Moore (the Librarian o f Westfield College) in reading the proofs and compiling the Index. I owe grateful thanks, too, to Miss Dickinson (Reader in French at Westfield College) who read many o f the chapters in manuscript, and acknowledgements to Dr. Robson o f Oxford who made some suggestions in the early stages which caused a salutary reconstruction o f certain sections o f the work. The subject is such a vast one that the selective method is imposed from the outset unless a mere catalogue o f texts is envisaged. I would like to think that, besides being a guide to students o f this fascinating period, some suggestions may have been thrown out which may lead more advanced students to further investigations. Most o f the texts are now available in trustworthy editions and the possibilities for comparative studies and works o f synthesis are greater than ever before. J essie C ro sla nd

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 FHistoire 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.

F orew ord

.

.

.

.

.

I. I n t r o d u c t o r y . L itera ture before i i o o

v .

.

i

II. D i d a c t i c L i t e r a t u r e : {a) S e rm o n s, (b) H a g io g r a p h y , (c) T h e W isd o m o f th e A ges . . .1 5

III. L y r ic P oetry

.

.

.

.

.4 7

IV . T h e R o m a n t ic E p ic , o r R o m a n C o u r t o is : P art I, M a u e r e d e R o m e ; P art II, R om ances w it h O ri -

'

ental colouring ;

V. Story- telling VI. Secular

and

in the

M iddle A ges

.

of the

and

.124 . 143

Chansons-de~Geste

H istorians

.

67

.

M iddle C lass Literature

VII. T he Evolution VIH. C hroniclers

P art III, M atière de B retagnb .

. 165 .

.195

IX. T he G rowth of D rama in the T welfth C entury : I, R eligious D rama ; II, Secular D rama . .

219

X. A nimal Literature: I, T he B estiaries; II, T he Roman* de Renard . . . . . . 244 Index

of

P roper N ames

258

IX

MEDIEVAL FRENCH LITERATURE CHAPTER I

IN T R O D U C T O R Y .

LITERATURE BEFORE n o o

A l t h o u g h the period covered by these Studies will be mainly the

second half o f the twelfth and the first half o f the thirteenth centuries—that period o f splendour during which the French way o f thinking and o f giving expression to its thoughts was paramount in Europe—yet it would be impossible to assess the value o f much o f the literature o f that period without going back for a century or so to see what lay behind it. The seeds o f that great ‘éclosion littéraire’ which reached its height during the period roughly from 1150 to 1250 must obviously have been in the soil for a considerable time before even the earliest shoots began to appear. And herein lies that mysterious nature o f medieval French literature which has baffled the most penetrating scholars for many decades and caused so many theories to be put forward that they have almost buried the texts themselves. For the fact is French literature seems to spring into being as it were ready-made, like Minerva fully armed from the head o f Zeus. The first epic poem known to us in the vulgar tongue, the first drama that has come down to us, the first lyric poem that greets us from the soil o f France—each o f these first-fruits o f French literature, if not the best o f its kind, shows signs o f either a creative skill or a-technique which would indicate some previous attempts in its own kind. But, though the origins o f any particular form o f literature may be buried in obscurity, we must at least cast a glimpse at what preceded the outburst and see if it throws any light on later developments. The earliest document that comes to the mind in this respect is that o f the well-known Serments de Strasbourg, drawn up in 842 between two o f the sons o f Charlemagne. But these need not detain us here as, in spite o f their linguistic and historical value, they cannot be included under the head o f literature either as regards form or contents. The first actual composition in Old French that has come down to us is a short poem contained in a manuscript from the extreme north-east o f France and dating from about the year 900—a time

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Medieval French Literature

when the descendants o f Charlemagne were still quarrelling over their adjacent territories and, to add to the confusion, the Normans were already spreading themselves over Gaul. It is o f interest to note that in the same manuscript which contains the Cantilène de Ste. Eulalie—the poem o f which we are speaking—is to be found a German poem (Known as the Ludwigslied) written to commemorate the victory o f the ‘Francs* under Louis III in 882, over those very Northmen (those ‘heidinc man’ whom God had sent from overseas to punish them for their ungodly ways) who later played such a part in laying the foundations o f serious French literature. But the rapid conversion o f the Northmen to Christianity was remarkable. Guillaume de Poitiers tells us in his history o f William the Conqueror that by the first half o f the eleventh century Normandy rivalled Egypt in its number o f monastic communities.1 The ‘Franki* in the ‘rythmus teutonicus* are portrayed as singing their warlike songs as they fought—whilst on another page o f the same manuscript the saintly Eulalie is engaged in resisting the world (