Macaire is a given name and surname associated with medieval France, although it appears to have several claims of origin. It was originally a male name, and later came to be considered a male or female name. ''Macaire'' is also the common name for a 12th-century
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
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 ...
, named for one of its main characters.
People
People with the surname include:
*
David Macaire, Archbishop of Martinique
*
Maurice Macaire
Maurice Macaire (22 November 1881 – unknown) was a French footballer who played as a midfielder and who competed in the football tournament at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, winning a silver medal as a member of the USFSA Olympic team repres ...
, French footballer in the 1900 Olympics
*
Robert Macaire (diplomat)
Robert Nigel Paul Macaire CMG (born 19 February 1966) is a British diplomat who served as UK's Ambassador to Iran from 2018 to 2021.
Macaire has held a number of senior posts in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and prior to his I ...
, British diplomat
*
Robert Macaire, a villainous character in French fiction
In fiction
Macaire is the name of the main character in two works, ''Macaire'' and ''
La Reine Sibille'' (14th century), both versions of the story of the false accusation brought against the queen of
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 ...
, called "Blanchefleur" in ''Macaire'' and "Sibille" in the later poem. ''Macaire'' is only preserved in the
Franco-Venetian ''Geste of Charlemagne'' (Bibl. St Mark MS. fr. xiii.). ''La Reine Sibille'' only exists in fragments, but the tale is given in the chronicle of
Alberic Trium Fontium, a monk of the
Cistercian
The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...
monastery of Trois Fontanes in the diocese of
Chlons, and in a prose version. ''Macaire'' is the product of the fusion of two legends: that of the unjustly repudiated wife and that of the dog who detects the murderer of his master. For the former motive see
Genevieve de Brabant. The second is found in
Plutarch
Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
, ''Script. moral.'', ed. Didot ii. (1186), where a dog, like Aubri's hound, stayed three days without food by the body of its master, and subsequently attacked the murderers, thus leading to their discovery. The duel between Macaire and the dog is paralleled by an interpolation by
Giraldus Cambrensis
Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He ...
in a manuscript of the ''Hexameron'' of
Ambrose
Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...
. Aubri's hound received the name of the "dog of
Montargis
Montargis () is a commune in the Loiret department, Centre-Val de Loire, France.
Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Centre-Val de Loire ''région'', and the second in the Loiret ''département'' after Orléans. It is near ...
," because a representation of the story was painted on a chimney-piece in the chateau of Montargis in the 15th century.
The tale was early divorced from Carolingian tradition, and
Jean de la Taille
Jean de La Taille (; c.1540c.1607) was a French poet and dramatist born in Bondaroy.
Life
He studied the humanities in Paris under Muretus, and law at Orléans under Anne de Bourg. He began his career as a Huguenot, but afterwards adopted a mil ...
, in his ''Discours notable des duels'' (Paris, 1607), places the incident under
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
Kings and Emperors
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
Others
* Charles V, Duke ...
.
See also
*
Saint-Macaire (disambiguation)
References
*
Matter of France
Medieval literature
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