Francisque Xavier Michel was a French historian and philologist.
The chanson de geste 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 the late eleventh and early twelfth 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.
Geoffrey of Paris, French chronicler, was probably the author of the Chronique metrique de Philippe le Bel, or Chronique rimée de Geoffroi de Paris. This work, which deals with the history of France from 1300 to 1316, contains 7,918 verses, and is valuable as that of a writer who had a personal knowledge of many of the events which he relates. Various short historical poems have also been attributed to Geoffrey, but there is no certain information about either his life or his writings.
Girart de Roussillon, also called Girard, Gérard II, Gyrart de Vienne, and Girart de Fraite, was a Burgundian chief who became Count of Paris in 837, and embraced the cause of Lothair I against Charles the Bald. He was a son of Leuthard I, Count of Fézensac and of Paris, and his wife Grimildis.
Fierabras or Ferumbras is a fictional Saracen knight appearing in several chansons de geste and other material relating to the Matter of France. He is the son of Balan, king of Spain, and is frequently shown in conflict with Roland and the Twelve Peers, especially Oliver, whose prowess he almost rivals. Fierabras eventually converts to Christianity and fights for Charlemagne.
Ferragut was a character—a Saracen paladin, sometimes depicted as a giant—in texts dealing with the Matter of France, including the Historia Caroli Magni, and Italian romantic epics, such as Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. In the tales, he was portrayed as physically invulnerable except at his navel/stomach, and was eventually killed by the paladin Roland.
Historia Caroli Magni, also known as Historia Karoli Magni et Rotholandi and sometimes as the Turpin Chronicle or the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle, is a 12th-century Latin forged chronicle of legendary material about Charlemagne's alleged conquest of Spain. It is also called Book IV – The Conquests of Charlemagne of the Codex Calixtinus. The chronicle states it was written by Charlemagne's contemporary Turpin, Archbishop of Reims, but it was found out as a medieval forgery. The work was extremely popular, and served as a major source of material on Charlemagne in chronicles, fiction and iconography throughout Medieval Europe. The miracles of the flowering lances and the death of Ferracutus appear on the windows of Chartres cathedral.
Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne is an Old French chanson de geste dealing with a fictional expedition by Charlemagne and his paladins. The oldest known written version was probably composed around 1140. Two 15th-century reworkings of the story are also known.
Antoine Thomas was a French linguist. He is known for his work with Adolphe Hatzfeld and Arsène Darmesteter, on the Dictionnaire général de la langue française du commencement du XVIIe siècle à nos jours, which was issued in parts from 1890 to 1900. He supplied etymological notes.
The Paladins are twelve fictional knights of legend, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval chanson de geste cycle of the Matter of France, where they play a similar role to the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian romance. In these romantic portrayals, the chivalric paladins represent Christianity against a Saracen (Muslim) invasion of Europe. The names of the paladins vary between sources, but there are always twelve of them led by Roland. The paladins' most influential appearance is in The Song of Roland, written between 1050 and 1115, which narrates the heroic death of Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass.
Andrea Mangiabotti, called Andrea da Barberino was an Italian writer and cantastorie ("storyteller") of the Quattrocento Renaissance. He was born in Barberino Val d'Elsa, near Florence and lived in Florence. He is principally known for his prose romance epic Il Guerrin Meschino, his I Reali di Francia, a prose compilation of the Matter of France epic material concerning Charlemagne and Roland (Orlandino) from various legends and chansons de geste, and for his Aspramonte, a reworking of the chanson de geste Aspremont, which also features the hero Ruggiero. Many of his writings probably derive from Franco-Italian works, such as the Geste Francor, that includes versions of the stories of Reali di Francia and dates to the first half of the fourteenth century. His works, which circulated at first in manuscript, were extremely successful and popular, and were a key source of material for later Italian romance writers, such as Luigi Pulci (Morgante), Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto.
Agolant or Agolante is a fictional character in Medieval and Renaissance romantic epics dealing with the Matter of France, including Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. He is a Saracen king from Africa.
Chanson d'Aspremont is a 12th-century Old French chanson de geste. The poem comprises 11, 376 verses, grouped into rhymed laisses. The verses are decasyllables mixed with alexandrines.
Guillaume le Vinier was a cleric and trouvère, one of the most prolific composers in the genre. He has left compositions in all the major subgenres of trouvère poetry: chansons d'amour, jeux-partis, a lai, a descort, a chanson de mal mariée and a ballade. He wrote Marian songs and even an imaginary dialogue with a nightingale. His work can be dated with some precision: the poem "En tous tens" is quoted in the Roman de la violette, which was written around 1225.
Entrée d'Espagne or L'Entrée d'Espagne or Entrée en Espagne is a 14th-century (c.1320) Franco-Venetian chanson de geste. The author is thought to be from Padua. The work has survived in only one manuscript, today in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice. Based on material from the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle and several other sources, the epic poem tells of Charlemagne's battles in Spain and the adventures of the paladin Roland.
Aiquin, subtitled La conqueste de la Bretaigne par le roy Charlemaigne, is a medieval Old French chanson de geste about the rivalry between a Saracen king, Aiquin, and the Christian emperor Charlemagne. The French medievalist Joseph Bédier called it a "consolidation of history and legend in an imposing ensemble." It survives in one fifteenth-century manuscript, BnF fr. 2233, now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It is usually attributed to Garin Trousseboeuf, possibly a cleric of Dol. According to historian Éric Borgnis-Desbordes, it was written in the early thirteenth century, probably around 1213 and under the guise of a chanson de geste featuring Charlemagne and the Viking invasions in the tenth century, the author may have alluded to “the transition from Plantagenet domination to Capetian influence in Brittany”. It is the oldest extant French text from Brittany.
Jean Courtecuisse was a French bishop and theologian, who was elected bishop of Paris and bishop of Geneva.
Eugénie Droz was a Swiss romance scholar, editorpublisher and writer, originally from the Suisse Romande. She created the Librairie Droz, a publisher and seller of academic books, at Paris in 1924, moving the business to Geneva at the end of the war.
The Geste du roi is the title of one of the literary cycles that compose the Chansons de Geste. In the Chansons of the Geste du roi, 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.
Jehan de Paris is an anonymous prose romance written at the end of the 15th century, probably around the years 1494–1495.
