Huon of Bordeaux is the title character of a 13th-century French epic poem with romance elements.

''Huon of Bordeaux''

The poem tells of Huon, a knight who unwittingly kills Charlot, the son of Emperor

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 ...

. He is given a reprieve from death on condition that he fulfil a number of seemingly impossible tasks: he must travel to the court of the

Emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

of Babylon and return with a handful of the Emir's hair and teeth, slay the Emir's mightiest knight, and three times kiss the Emir's daughter, Esclarmonde. Huon eventually accomplishes all these feats with the assistance of the fairy king

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairy, fairies in Middle Ages, medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania ...

Editions and continuations

The ''

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 ...

'' that survives (in three more or less complete manuscripts and two short fragments) comprises 10,553

decasyllable Decasyllable (Italian: ''decasillabo'', French: ''décasyllabe'', Serbian: ''десетерац'', ''deseterac'') is a poetic meter of ten syllables used in poetic traditions of syllabic verse. In languages with a stress accent ( accentual ...

verses grouped in 91

assonance Assonance is the repetition of identical or similar phonemes in words or syllables that occur close together, either in terms of their vowel phonemes (e.g., ''lean green meat'') or their consonant phonemes (e.g., ''Kip keeps capes ''). However, in ...

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. Presumed dates for its composition vary, but 1216 and 1268 are generally given as ''

terminus post quem A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

'' (earliest possible date) and ''

terminus ante quem A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

'' (latest possible date). The ''chansons success gave rise to six continuations and one prologue which triple its length: *''Roman d'Aubéron'' – the

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

manuscript of the romance (the only manuscript to contain all of the continuations) contains the only version of this 14th-century prologue in the shape of a separate romance of ''Auberon''. ''Auberon'' also refers to the title of another chanson de geste, ''Auberon'', written as the prologue to ''Huon de Bordeaux''. No prose version exists. *''Huon Roi de Féérie'' *''Chanson d'Esclarmonde'' *''Chanson de Clarisse et Florent'' *'' Chanson d'Yde et d'Olive'' *''Chanson de Godin'' – the

manuscript of the romance contains the only version of this 13th–14th century continuation. No prose version exists. The Turin manuscript also contains the romance of ''Les Lorrains'', a summary in seventeen lines of another version of the story, according to which Huon's exile is due to his having slain a count in the emperor's palace. *''Roman de Croissant'' The poem and most of its continuations were converted to a

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ...

d version 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 in 1454 (only one manuscript exists). While no manuscript exists from the 15th century prose version, this version served as the base text for 16th century printed editions (eleven exist), the earliest extant being the edition printed by Michel le Noir in 1513. The work was reprinted ten times in the 17th century, eight times in the 18th and four times in the 19th (notably in a beautifully printed and illustrated adaptation in modern French by

Gaston Paris Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris (; 9 August 1839 – 5 March 1903) was a French literary historian, philologist, and scholar specialized in Romance studies and medieval French literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, ...

in 1898). The romance came into vogue in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

through the translation () of John Bourchier, Lord Berners, as ''Huon of Burdeuxe'', through which

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

heard of the French epic. In

Philip Henslowe Philip Henslowe ( – 6 January 1616) was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London. ...

's diary there is a note of a performance of a play, ''Hewen of Burdocize'', on 28 December 1593. The tale was dramatized and produced in Paris by the Confrérie de la Passion in 1557. The tale also serves as the basis for

Christoph Martin Wieland Christoph Martin Wieland (; ; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer, representative of literary Rococo. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the ...

's epic poem ''

'' of 1780, where Huon becomes the lover of the Sultan's daughter Rezia/Amanda.

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen na ...

retold the tale in quasi-modern English prose as ''Huon of the Horn'', published by

Harcourt, Brace & Company Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. It was known at different stages in its history as Harcourt Brace, & Co. and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. From 1919 to 1 ...

in 1951, which is considered her first fantasy novel.

Historical sources

The Charlot of the story has been identified by Auguste Longnon (''Romania'' vol. viii) with Charles the Child, one of the sons of

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as CharlesII, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), King of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a series of civil wars during t ...

and

Ermentrude of Orléans Ermentrude of Orléans (27 September 823 – 6 October 869) was the Queen of the Franks by her marriage to Charles II. She was the daughter of Odo, count of Orleans and Engeltrude de Fézensac. Queenship The traditional historiography on ...

, who died in 866 in consequence of wounds inflicted by a certain Aubouin in precisely similar circumstances to those related in the romance. The godfather of Huon may safely be identified with Seguin, who was count of Bordeaux under

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (; ; ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only ...

in 839, and died fighting against the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

six years later. Huon himself is probably based on

Hunald I Hunald I, also spelled Hunold, Hunoald, Hunuald or Chunoald (died 756), was the Duke of Aquitaine from 735 until 745. Although nominally he was an officer of the Merovingian kings of Francia, in practice Aquitaine was completely autonomous when he ...

, duke of

Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...

in the 8th century, who was defeated by Charlemagne's father.Julien Bellarbre
e–XII^e siècles)"">"La « nation » aquitaine dans l’historiographie monastique du sud de la Loire (VIII^e–XII^e siècles)"
''Revue de l'IFHA'', 6 (2014), retrieved 21 May 2018.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

Translations

External links

* {{Authority control Fictional characters introduced in the 13th century 13th-century books Chansons de geste Epic poems in French Fictional French people Fictional knights French folklore French poems Male characters in literature Medieval French romances Medieval legends