''Galiens li Restorés'', or ''Galien le Restoré'' or ''Galien rhétoré'' (in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, "Galien the Restored"), is an

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

''chanson de geste'' which borrows heavily from Romance (heroic literature)">chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of high medieval and early modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalri ...

Plot

Battle of Roncevaux Pass The Battle of Roncevaux Pass ( French and English spelling, '' Roncesvalles'' in Spanish, ''Orreaga'' in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on ...

Roland Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

Editions

Three of the extant versions of the tale (including the one in verse) are part of larger compilations entitled ''

Garin de Monglane Garin de Monglane is a fictional aristocrat who gives his name to the second cycle of Old French ''chanson de geste">chansons de geste'', ''La Geste de Garin de Monglane''. His cycle tells stories of fiefless lads of noble birth who went off s ...

'' in which are grouped other works concerning the feats of the descendants of Garin (

Girart de Vienne ''Girart de Vienne'' is a late twelfth-century (c.1180Hasenohr, 547-548.) Old French ''chanson de geste">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... ''chanson de ...

, Olivier, Galien, etc.). The verse version (the "Cheltenham manuscript") is in

alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French '' Ro ...

s grouped in rhymed

laisse A laisse is a type of stanza, of varying length, found in medieval French literature, specifically medieval French epic poetry (the ''chanson de geste''), such as ''The Song of Roland''. In early works, each laisse was made up of (mono) assonanced ...

s; one of the two other compiled versions is in manuscript form, the other is in a printed edition (c.1502-11Tilly, 16, 20.). The remaining two versions of the tale have only the ''Galien'' tale; one of these is the printed edition of 1500, later reprinted with a different ending in 1525. Surviving editions:Dougherty, 298. *containing the cycle: ** the "Cheltenham manuscript" (in verse). ''La Geste de Montglane.'' Library of the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

(

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

). Originally published by Edmund Stengel in 1890 (Marburg). ** ''Guérin de Montglave'' (sic), printed c.1502-1511. **Ms. 3351 of the

Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal The Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (, ''Library of the Arsenal'', founded 1757) in Paris has been part of the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 1934. History The collections of the library originated with the private library of Marc Antoine ...

. *containing only ''Galiens'': ** ''Galien rhétoré'', printed in 1500. ** Ms. 1470 fr. of the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

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. * Authur Tilly. ''Studies in the French Renaissance''. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1968. * David M. Dougherty. "A New Critical Edition of Galiens li restorés" ''The French Review'', Vol. 41, No. 3 (Dec., 1967), pp. 298–303
JSTOR

External links

GoogleBooks
The Cheltenham manuscript. ''Le Galien de Cheltenham.'' David M. Dougherty, Eugene B. Barnes, eds. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1981. {{DEFAULTSORT:Galiens li Restores Chansons de geste Matter of France Works based on The Song of Roland Epic poems in French French poems Cultural depictions of Charlemagne