Anglo-Norman
Rare discovery of Anglo-Norman fragments illuminates history of a French medieval epic
Old medieval vellum manuscripts were often reused for binding in the early modern age. Often the strips
are nearly negligible in size as well as content. However, from time to time such fragments are more
valuable than their size might initially hint at.
Recently Dr Marianne Ailes of Bristol’s Department of French found two such pieces of precious
vellum in a box of manuscript fragments recovered from book bindings in St Andrews University
Library; each roughly the size and dimensions of a cheque.
The two fragments, the only unidentified Old French manuscripts in the box, exhibit Anglo-Norman
orthography, so they definitely were copied in England. The larger fragment, dating from the late 13th
century, contains ten lines of two columns. The second fragment, which is probably from the first half of
the 14th century, contains five lines of two columns.
The larger fragment is a section of text from the Chanson de Guillaume, one of the earliest surviving Old
French texts, known until now in only one manuscript . The smaller fragment comes from a manuscript
of Foulque de Candie, a late twelfth-century poem.
The Chanson de Guillaume, an important twelfth-century epic poem in Old French survives complete in
only one manuscript, kept in the British Library. However, the contents of the fragment do not
correspond to the narrative preserved in the London manuscript, but represent the version reflected in
the later twelfth-century poem Foulque de Candie.
“The significance of these fragments is out of proportion to their size. As they are written with the
spelling characteristic of Anglo-Norman texts they add to our understanding of the reception of this kind
of text in England”, says Dr. Marianne Allis.
Behind this enigmatic comment hides an important scholarly controversy, which the fragments may help
to illuminate. The controversy is sometimes headed under the epithet, “The Old French Epic Diaspora”
and designates the in French eyes provincial character of these epics, as they have been preserved in the
Occitan and in the Anglo-Norman languages/dialects. Anglo-Norman England was of course part of the
French-speaking world and – as stated very recently by professor Philip E. Bennett – the accepted
doctrine until recently “was that there were no Anglo-Norman chansons de geste, and that the copies of
continental French epics made in England were no more than that; moreover, where they showed
significant divergence from continental exemplars, they were corrupt and unreliable. Finally the making
of copies of these poems in England was offered as proof of the provincial conservatism of the AngloNorman barons, who deemed to provide a public for them.”
He goes on to claim that this position is now untenable and that the existence of such creative
“reworkings” as for instance the Chanson de Guillaume should be characterised as creative
adaptions. These comments have recently (august 2012) been published in the journal, French Studies, in
an article presenting an overview of the last 50 years of research into the geste; and are obviously
reflecting the recent find, which professor Phillip Bennett contributed to the identification of.
État Présent. Chanson de geste and chanson d’aventures: recent perspectives on the evolution
of a genre.
By Philip E. Bennett.
In French Studies, august 30 2012/advance access.
Press release from Bristol University