The ''Chanson de Guillaume'', also called ''Chançun de Willame'' (
English: "Song of William"), is a ''
chanson de geste
The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poetry, epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly ...
'' from the first half of the twelfth-century (,
[Hasenohr, 520-522.] although the first half of the poem may date from as early as the eleventh century;
[Holmes, 102-104.] along with ''
The Song of Roland'' and ''
Gormont et Isembart'', it is considered one of three ''chansons de geste'' whose composition incontestably dates from before 1150). The work is generally considered to have two distinct halves: the first tells of
Guillaume of Orange, his nephew Vivien and the latter's young brother Gui and their various battles with
Saracens at L'Archamp; in the second half of the poem (after 2000 lines), Guillaume is aided by Rainouard, a
giant.
The poem comprises 3,553 verses in
assonanced
laisses; most of the verses are
decasyllables, but there are occasional recurring short six-syllable lines.
The poem exists in only one 13th-century manuscript, written in an
Anglo-Norman dialect, which only was brought to light in 1901
[Holmes gives 1903 which is the date of its first publication.] at the sale of the books of Sir Henry Hope Edwardes. The manuscript has since passed to the
British Library (British Library, Add MS 38663),
It is the only ''chanson de geste'' concerning the deeds of William of Orange that was not included in the cyclic 13th-century collections of ''chansons de geste'' generally referred to as the ''
Geste de Guillaume d'Orange''. Much of the poem's material (especially the second half) was also expanded and adapted by the later ''chanson de geste'' ''
Aliscans''.
Historical sources
The ''chanson'' appears to be based on William of Gellone's battle at the
Orbieu or Orbiel river near
Carcassonne in 793.
Notes
References
* Geneviève Hasenohr and Michel Zink, eds. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Age''. Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
*
Urban T. Holmes Jr. ''A History of Old French Literature from the Origins to 1300''. New York: F.S. Crofts, 1938.
*
Niles, John D. "Narrative Anomalies in La Chançun de Willame." ''Viator'' 9 (1978): 251-264.
External links
Full texton the
Internet ArchiveFull text with vocabularyon the
Internet Archive
12th-century books
11th-century books
Anglo-Norman literature
Epic poems in French
Chansons de geste
French poems
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