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Cornell University Library 
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 Feudal France In the French epic, a stud 
 
 3 1924 027 204 183 
 
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A /' ; 
 
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 FEUDAL FRANCE 
 
 1 ,'-,■.,) 
 
 IN THE !' 
 
 FRENCH EPIC 
 
 A STUDY OF FEUDAL FRENCH IN^TITfUTIONS 
 IN HISTORY AND POETRY ' 
 
 i;^ ^ r GEORGE BAER FtJNRENJBtJRG; PH.D. 
 
 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE, 
 
 REQUIREMENTS FOR, THE fiEdi^E OF ' T 
 
 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN TfcCE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY, 
 COLUMBIA U'NIVE^RSIfY ' V 
 
 / PklNCETOST, , N, J. 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FRENCH EPIC 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FRENCH EPIC 
 
 A STUDY OF FEUDAL FRENCH INSTITUTIONS 
 IN HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 7 
 
 1^ 
 
 BY 
 GEORGE BAER FUNDENBURG, PH.D. 
 
 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE 
 
 REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF 
 
 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 I918 
 
A^(?3<lfe^ 
 
 Copyright, 1918 
 
 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 Princeton, New Jersey 
 
Approved for publication, on behalf of the Department of 
 Romance Lawguages and Literatures of Columbia University. 
 
 Henry Alfred Todd. 
 
 New York 
 October i, 1918. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Introduction. French Epic Poetry i 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 Geography of the Feudal Epic 12 
 
 CHAPTER in 
 Traits of the Feudal Baron 30 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Primitive Phases of the Homme-d-Seigneur Relation in 
 
 History and in Feudal French Poetry 52 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Phases of Feudal Custom in French Epic Poetry 78 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Conclusion 100 
 
 Bibliography 114 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 French Epic Poetry 
 
 At the outset of this study it is desirable to make a definite 
 analysis of the meaning of the term French Epic Poetry and 
 what part of this corpus is to be styled Feudal Poetry. In a 
 large sense almost all narrative works in verse composed prior 
 to the fourteenth century, and dealing even remotely with life 
 in France, are known as the French Epic. The designation cov- 
 ers a long period of composition, and a wide variety of material 
 and treatment. It includes the Chanson de Roland of the 
 primitive period, and at the other extreme of age and style the 
 Cliges and similar works of Chretien de Troyes. 
 
 The age of the first production of epic poetry in France has 
 long been a question of dispute. Almost as many answers have 
 been given as there are scholars in the field. Gaston Paris and 
 Gautier have supported the theory of the origin of the epic 
 poetry in the cantilenes, i.e., short songs that were first com- 
 posed on the field of battle by the warriors, who were also 
 poets — these songs at some less remote time being developed 
 into the chansons de geste as they are preserved in the manu- 
 scripts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Rajna, Grober, 
 and Jordan, have maintained that the chansons are direct con- 
 tinuations of ancient chansons composed, in form similar to 
 those extant, as early as the sixth and seventh centuries. 
 Suchier, Wechssler (also Paul Meyer and Ferdinand Lot), 
 have upheld the opinion that the epic material existed in the 
 remote Middle Ages in the form of legends upon which were 
 based the chansons, less ancient in formation than the legends. 
 Finally, Becker (and Jullian) and Bedier, in the last decade 
 or two, have attempted to demonstrate that the French epic 
 poetry is of comparatively recent origin. 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 The Roland, probably the oldest existing chanson, is appro- 
 priately known as the sole example of the National Epic, 
 strictly speaking. It is marked throughout by a conception of 
 the unity of the territory today known as France, in its 
 struggles during the early medieval period, with the other 
 great Western European powers, especially Spain. The second 
 great distinguishing feature of this poem is the grandeur of 
 the Emperor, and the devotion to him, developed to a degree 
 not equalled in any other epic poem. Other chansons, such as 
 the Couronnement de Louis, show in remarkable exemplifica- 
 tion one or other of these two traits, — national unity, or ex- 
 altation of the Imperial ideal, — ^but no other poem shows the 
 same magnificent conception of unity, patriotism, and loyalty 
 consistently sustained throughout a work of this magnitude. 
 
 On the other hand, the Cliges of Chretien de Troyes, for 
 example, written about 1170, and similar works of the end of 
 the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century, show the 
 epic in the last stages of its progression. The Cliges is one of 
 those poems termed Court Epics, by reason of their treatment 
 of material of Knighthood and Chivalry, in the style that re- 
 sulted (i) from the high development of aristocratic social 
 life at the royal court, (2) from the consequent elevation of 
 women, and (3) from the influence of audiences that de- 
 lighted in fantastic depiction. 
 
 These two representative poems, the Roland and the Cliges, 
 delimit in a general way the extent of the field. But the 
 transition from the one type to the other occupied centuries, 
 and produced epic poetry displaying modifications at every 
 stage in the long intermediary passage. Starting with the jf?o- 
 land, the purely National Epic, and tracing the slow variation 
 through to the latest, most recent form, the Court Epic, vari- 
 ous poems are to be found that may be grouped under a few 
 large divisions. The first of these, after the National, is the 
 Pre-Feudal Epic, a term applied in the present study to a group 
 of poems that reflect in their material and treatment the social 
 and political life of the period of French history following 
 the disruption of the Empire in 843, up to the firm establish- 
 
FRENCH EPIC POETRY 
 
 ment toward the end of the tenth century of that system of 
 government today classed as Feudalism by the historians. In 
 this group, the Pre-Feudal Epic, there may be introduced a 
 subdivision. The earlier of these poems are distinguished by 
 a strong reminiscence of the imperial power of the Carolin- 
 gians prior to the territorial division of 843 ; in the later poems 
 is to be noted the extreme anarchy that darkened the end of 
 the ninth and the beginning of the tenth centuries, when the 
 king had been divested of all power, and nascent Feudalism 
 had not as yet systematically substituted itself in the place of 
 the royal government, which had practically ceased to exist. 
 And the same sort of subdivisions, of classes within classes, 
 might be made again in this group, and in the classifications to 
 follow. There is no real limit to the possible divisions except 
 the number of poetic works, for no two poems may be assigned 
 with certainty to the same date, and each reflects a different 
 stage in the development of society and government. The 
 delimitations are therefore broad for the purpose of general 
 survey, and minor distinctions are reserved for subsequent 
 chapters. 
 
 Following the Pre-Feudal period comes the epoch of the 
 • completest and most uniform prevalence of the Feudal system. 
 And corresponding to this period of time is the Feudal Epic 
 proper, represented by poems few in number, but sharply 
 distinct from the earlier and later groups. In these poems is 
 reflected the swift-moving, constant struggle of the working 
 of feudal society. For although the system of Feudalism may 
 be accounted established during this period, — viz., the end of 
 the tenth to the beginning of the twelfth century — the social 
 and political status of the individual was not fixed with any 
 degree of permanency; the individual rose or fell in the scale 
 of the feudal hierarchy according to the measure of his mani- 
 fested strength. And this never-ending strife occupied the 
 whole thought of the men of that age, and found rich ex- 
 pression in the truly feudal poems, such as the Garin le 
 Loherain. 
 
 After Feudalism had held sway for some two centuries of 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 turbulent life, the reaction set in toward a more stabilized 
 central government, and as the power of the crown grew and 
 the ill-used might of the nobility was held in increasing check, 
 there followed naturally in the twelfth century an era of higher 
 intellectual, religious, and social development, tending toward 
 the comparative serenity of the absolutist age that began to- 
 ward the end of the thirteenth century. The strength that had 
 been expended at home in the struggles of nascent Feudalism 
 was diverted into the Crusades. Immediately the change was 
 reflected in the poetry. Less impressed by local events, with a 
 wider vision of the relation of France to the remainder of 
 Western Europe, the people turned eagerly to the tales of 
 romanesque adventure outside their own country, in Italy 
 especially, from which returning warriors and pilgrims 
 brought back stories of foreign interest. This new view — half- 
 vision, half -knowledge — of the outside world stimulated a re- 
 vival of the old chansons, and caused in their style and material 
 a change from the realistic presentation of the turmoil familiar 
 in early feudal life to a fanciful narrative of travel and ro- 
 mance beyond the borders of France. This style of chanson 
 has been designated by the class-name roman d'aventure, 
 Even in these poems, fantastic as they are, there is of necessity 
 a reflection of feudal conditions now fully established, and, 
 for that reason, of less prominence in the eyes of the people 
 and also less important because of the increasing authority of 
 the king. So these poems, the romans d'aventure, are fre- 
 quently referred to in this study as the late feudal poetry. The 
 feudal element is still largely in evidence though shadowed by 
 the imaginative treatment common to this age. 
 
 The transition from the late feudal poetry, or romans 
 (Tofifenture, to the court epic, or romance of chivalry, came 
 about near the end of the thirteenth century as a natural result 
 of the more refined court life, the influence of the Christian 
 element of Chivalry, the consequent worship of women, and 
 the quest of glory for glory's sake. 
 
 Thus far have been briefly traced the gradually changing 
 social conditions of France from the ninth to the thirteenth 
 
FRENCH EPIC POETRY 
 
 century, from the National or Royal period through the sub- 
 sequent anarchy to the estabHshment of the feudal system, then 
 through the gradual decay, or lessening importance, of the 
 feudal regime to a second royal or absolutist age. And, cor- 
 responding to the shifting state of society during these cen- 
 turies, the poetry has been grouped in sequence from the 
 National to the Pre-Feudal, the Feudal proper, the late Feudal 
 or roman d'aventure, up to the Court Epic or Romance of 
 Chivalry. 
 
 Now in this fashion of grouping there is the implication of 
 the method that is used throughout the present study; and a 
 few words are needed to explain and justify the process that 
 is to be employed. In the first place, prior to the last decade 
 of the nineteenth century, the only method, save that of 
 imaginative speculation, of approaching the study of the French 
 epic poems and the age of their composition, has followed one 
 general line : the paralleling of historical events with supposed 
 versions of the same events recounted in the poetry. This style 
 of investigation has yielded much of value, as employed, for 
 instance, by Rajna in his Origini dell' epopea francese. It has, 
 however, two flaws that vitiate any conclusions: the first is 
 that the supposititious identification of incidents from the 
 poetry with historical events, is most often secured through the 
 manipulating of details and the employment to a large degree 
 of the elements of faith and imagination. Secondly, granted 
 the correctness of the parallel, there has been proved nothing 
 except that the poem in question, or at any rate the historical 
 element of it, is more recent than the actual event. How much 
 more recent can only be inaccurately and unsatisfactorily 
 inferred. 
 
 Another method has been employed of late years. P. A. 
 Becker and C. Jullian, both writing in the last decade of the 
 nineteenth century, suggested, more or less incidentally, the 
 connection of a single institution of a single century, viz., the 
 Pilgrimages in the twelfth century — as the cause of the origin 
 of a part of the epic poetry. The process is correct as far 
 as it is carried. That is, a social institution in the twelfth cen- 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 tury is seen reflected to a certain degree in some of the late 
 feudal poetry. It is known that the institution did not exist 
 prior to the century named, and the conclusion follows that the 
 depiction of it in the poetry could have been introduced only 
 by a poet of the twelfth century, or possibly of the early 
 thirteenth. The result of this method is undeniable as far as 
 it was carried by Becker and Jullian. Since their works, 
 Bedier has produced his Legendes epiques, in which the same 
 method is employed — in fact the idea of the importance of the 
 pilgrimages has been developed at greater length. 
 
 The limitation of the view of these three scholars to a single 
 phase of medieval life has of course given results equally lim- 
 ited. The fact that a single institution of the twelfth century 
 is reflected in the poetry does not demonstrate that all custom- 
 material in the poetry is of the same century. Nor does it fol- 
 low, because some elements of some poems belong to the 
 twelfth century, that all elements of all poems belong to the 
 same period. The method, however, is valid except for its 
 limitations. And it has been employed in the present study. 
 For if the identity of a custom in poetry and history proves 
 only the age of that element, it is possible to ascertain the age 
 of the poetry as a whole by seeking out the prevalence in his- 
 tory of a number of customs and institutions depicted in Vie 
 poetry. If there be chosen a dozen different phases of the life 
 of several centuries which are identical in history and poetry, 
 these elements of the poetry may be dated with certainty. Or 
 in other words : if in the various poems, or in the same poem, 
 elements of social life, manners, customs, political and geo- 
 graphical details, can be fixed definitely in any centuries or 
 century; if these customs can be determined as to their pre- 
 valence, then the poems may be assigned without the possibil- 
 ity of contradiction to the period indicated and delimited by 
 the manners, customs, politics, etc. 
 
 There is one superficial objection to be met: perhaps the 
 poet of the twelfth century might have been intimately ac- 
 quainted with the manners and customs of the ninth century. 
 A social custom or political conception could not have come 
 
 6 
 
FRENCH EPIC POETRY 
 
 down by word of mouth, through so long a period of time, 
 unless in a more or less fixed legendary form. But suppose 
 that this poet has at his command all the documents that are 
 accessible to students at the present day ; suppose he had even 
 more documentary evidence which has since been lost — supposi- 
 tions absurd, but they will be advanced or intimated — ^^suppose 
 this twelfth-century scholar had had all this material at hand 
 and had utilized it. Then consider whether many people of his 
 epoch would understand and appreciate his work. How much 
 popularity would such a work enjoy, filled with antique relics 
 dug out of Latin chronicles hundreds of years old? How 
 would this scholar and poet educate his audience, unlettered, 
 untutored warriors and tradesmen? Every introduction of an 
 institution or custom that was not actually prevalent at thej 
 time of the first composition and recitation would be detri-; 
 mental to any clearness or intelligibility. It is logically and ob-' 
 viously necessary therefore to believe that any element found! 
 in the poetry was introduced at a time when that element was 
 familiar to the common people — when the custom involved was 
 in vogue. Consequently the poetry may be dated with absolute j 
 certainty by the adequate dating of all the elements in itj', 
 pertaining to manners, customs, institutions, politics, geography. 
 As a result of these considerations the purpose of the present 
 study is to determine to what extent the various poems may 
 be assigned to definite ages by means of a comparative analysis 
 of social conditions in the body of the poetry, and in the his- 
 torical documents from the sixth to the twelfth century in 
 France. It has not been possible in an investigation limited 
 in scope as this must be, to consider the whole body of the 
 French epic poetry, nor even for that matter each one of the 
 poems included in the period of time covered by the research. 
 A discrimination has been made consciously, and upon a clear- 
 ly defined basis. Since this study has been based entirely on 
 the direct reflection of social life in the poetry, those poems 
 have been selected which are most detailed in the presentation 
 of every phase of man's activity during the period of time 
 indicated. As has been emphasized in another connection, the 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 poems which display most intimate contact with the environ- 
 ment of their composer are those purely feudal in nature. The 
 cycle of the Loherains, for example, dating from the eleventh 
 century, is rich in the details of every aspect of feudalism; 
 on the other hand it contains none of the extremely exag- 
 gerated and romanesque elements of the later poems, such as 
 the Amis et Amiles, a chanson of the twefth century. These 
 distinctly feudal poems have here been assigned to the tenth 
 and eleventh centuries. In addition to the few specimens of 
 unusually faithful portrayal, a number have been included that 
 show most evidently elements of an epoch prior to the full 
 development of feudalism ; and still others subsequent in com- 
 position to the height of the feudal regime. Accordingly a close 
 study of some score of poems has been made, with greatest 
 emphasis, as has been indicated, upon those that are most 
 reliable in their depiction of the manners, customs, and so 
 forth, of any given period, from the ninth to the twelfth cen- 
 tury. In addition, a survey has been made of others, such as 
 the Amis et Amiles, which have been deemed too far removed 
 from actual life to be accorded any weight of evidence in such 
 an investigation. As has been said, this score of poems has 
 beeen chosen after careful consideration. It is quite possible 
 that the identical list would not be chosen by other students 
 of the same field. It may be stated certainly however that no 
 scholar would question the value of the group as a whole for 
 the purpose of the study of French social institutions in the 
 period they represent. 
 
 Apropos of the selection made, a comparison of a similar 
 group chosen by Bedier for his Legendes epiques is pertinent. 
 It has been mentioned that Bedier approached the question of 
 the age of the poetry from the viewpoint of a social institution : 
 the difference is that this study is from several points of view. 
 Bedier has utilized, however, practically all the poems chosen 
 for this investigation, and certain others in addition. In 
 Bedier's work the choice of chansons upon which particular 
 stress is laid was imposed first of all by the necessity of treat- 
 ing poems that do not contain any elements apparently ante- 
 
 8 
 
FRENCH EPIC POETRY 
 
 dating the twelfth century, and secondly that display as evi- 
 dently as possible the influence of a single institution, the 
 pilgrimages. 
 
 The choice for this study has not been so limited. It is to 
 be noted that the poems most accurate in all details are those 
 which lend greatest support to this study, whereas in the 
 Legendes epiques, the chief reliance is on the roman d'aventure 
 type of production, less trustworthy as a source of custom- 
 material. The poem of Garin le Loherain, for instance, is 
 above all others of the chansons de geste a true portrayal of 
 feudal conditions. On the other hand the Arms et Amiles is 
 one of those least reliable in its representation of the period 
 of composition. Consequently no support is derived in this 
 study from the Amis et Amiles, while due attention is paid to 
 the Garin. On the contrary, in Bedier's work, the Amis et 
 Awales and other poems of the sort are a chief basis, and the 
 Garin is dismissed as being of value only to the student of 
 geography — more accurately, it might be said, to the student of 
 actual social conditions. 
 
 The first chansons de geste read by the writer were Raoul 
 de Cambrai, and Auberi le Bourgoing. The apparent clear- 
 ness of the depiction of early feudal conditions in these 
 chansons led to a study of a larger group, considered in their 
 relation to the possible period of composition ; and the age of 
 the institutions in the poetry, also recorded in the chronicles 
 and other historical documents, has been accounted evidence 
 of the period of the composition of the poetry itself. 
 
 The effort throughout the study has been to approach the 
 subject at as many different angles as the scope of the work 
 permitted, so that, the same conclusion being reached in every 
 chapter by a different method of attack, the argument might 
 gain weight by reason of the cumulative nature of the evidence. 
 For from whatever point of view the poems were considered, 
 they have been found to offer an identical answer to the ques- 
 tion of the date of their composition. The various lines of 
 research followed may be summed up briefly : 
 
 This first chapter is an attempt to sketch the field in broad 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 lines, to locate this study with respect to the general subject- 
 matter of French epic poetry. The second chapter takes up the 
 question of the localization of the poetry, and likewise offers 
 evidence of the age of the chansons by means of the identity 
 of political conditions in the poems, conditions to be found also 
 at one time or another in the recorded history of France. This 
 comparison of poetic material with the records of chronicles, 
 capitularies and other historical documents of the age, is ap- 
 plied throughout the succeeding chapters. 
 
 After the territory involved in the action of the feudal 
 poetry has been established, and the considerable coincidence 
 of the details of the poetry with historic political conditions 
 has been emphasized, the discussion passes to the considera- 
 tion of the nature of the feudal nobleman who, during the 
 period of time represented by the pure feudal epic, lived in that 
 part of France where the poetry originated. Again the identity 
 of the conditions existing in history and poetry is discovered, 
 indicating the high degree of relijmce that is to be placed on 
 the poetical works as a source of custom-material, and serving, 
 as in the second chapter, to establish the composition of certain 
 of the chansons in an early age, and of many others in a more 
 recent period. 
 
 The fourth chapter follows the same method, again from a 
 different point of attack. In it the history of the development 
 of a single institution — the homme-a-seigneur relationship 
 without land consideration — ^is traced from its origin under 
 the first Merovingians to its disappearance at the beginning of 
 the tenth century. And, with this institution as recorded in 
 history as a guide, the respective poems are again assigned to 
 definite periods. This dating of the poetry, although reached 
 by a process distinct from the methods employed in the pre- 
 ceding chapters, tends to confirm the conclusions already in- 
 dicated. 
 
 In the fifth chapter other customs, of various centuries, are 
 considered in both history and poetry, and the identity of the 
 material of the chansons with the customs as recorded in the 
 historical documents, serves as further evidence of the validity 
 
 10 
 
FRENCH EPIC POETRY 
 
 of the conclusions that have been reached with respect to the 
 age of the poetry, and its reliability in regard to custom data. 
 
 This study was taken up in the manner outlined, and was 
 carried three quarters of the way toward its logical conclusion 
 before the theories of the various scholars in the field were 
 considered. The study is therefore in the nature of a research 
 conducted for its own sake and without parti pris, and conse- 
 quently the bearing of the work upon the field in general and 
 upon the hypothesis of Bedier in particular, has been reserved 
 for the sixth and concluding chapter. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 I 
 The geographical element in the feudal French epic com- 
 prises three related phases: first, the territorial extent of 
 France during the periods in which the various poems were 
 composed; second, the sphere of the political influence of 
 France beyond the limits of the district actually subject to the 
 French king; third, the probable locality in which poetry was 
 composed. Each one of these three points has been separately 
 discussed by others prior to this time. The geographical extent 
 of France with reference to a small group of poems, especially 
 the Roland, has been treated in a most able fashion by Gautier 
 in his article L'Idee politique dans les chansons de geste, al^ 
 though in this essay Gautier lays particular emphasis upon the 
 idea of French nationality in the epic poetry.^ Gautier's chief 
 contention is that in the Roland the word France is applied to 
 the territory known as France in modern times. The contrary 
 view is sustained by C. T. Hoefft in his work France, Franceis, 
 und Franc im Rolandsliede.^ The extent of France in the more 
 remote Middle Ages, or more particularly, the geographical 
 value of the words Francia and Frcmcus, has been discussed 
 by G. Kurth in a study entitled La France et les Francs dans 
 la langue politique du moyen dge.^ The political relation of 
 France to neighboring countries is well analysed by Fournier 
 in his massive work Le Royaume d' Aries et de Vienne* And 
 finally, the discussion as to the locality in which the poetry was 
 
 ^ Revue des questions historiques, Paris, 1869, vol. VII, pp. 79 ff. 
 
 2 Strassburg, 1891. 
 
 ' Revue des questions historiques, LVII, 337 ff. 
 
 * Paris, 1891. 
 
 12 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 probably composed finds an important place in Rajna's Le 
 Origini dell' epopea francese.^ 
 
 The article of Gautier is concerned chiefly with the con- 
 sciousness of nationality on the part of the poets ; Kurth and 
 Hoefft are interested in the question of terminology rather 
 than in the political status of the territory today known as 
 France. The work of Fournier is purely historical and political. 
 That of Rajna more nearly approaches the field proposed for 
 this study. This scholar's conclusions, however, are based upon 
 the general corpus of the French epic, and are drawn in broad 
 hues. It is intended here to consider only the feudal epic, 
 and to analyse it somewhat closely from the point of view of 
 geographical content and French political history, in order to 
 reveal from these angles what evidence the poetry contains 
 within itself of the original locality of its composition. 
 
 In a discussion of the geography of the French feudal epic, 
 a distinction is to be made between the three classes of French 
 epic poetry. The National epic may be practically limited to the 
 Chanson de Roland, in which there is no accurate and detailed 
 evidence of geographical knowledge or interest in details of the 
 sort. The poet in the Roland distinguishes in a general way 
 larger divisions, such as France and Spain, but he does not con- 
 cern himself with more local and minute items of geography. 
 Likewise little emphasis is placed on the correctness of place- 
 names in the romans d'aventure, as for instance, the second half 
 of the Raoul de Cambrai, or the greater part of the Heruis de 
 Metz, or the Guy de Bowgogne, etc. But the impression of 
 inaccuracy gained from such poems is not to be applied to the 
 feudal, or provincial, epic. For it is noteworthy that the more 
 feudal a poem is in spirit, the more accurate are the geograph- 
 ical details. So in the Garin le Loheram, and the first half of 
 the Raoul de Cambrai, which attain the highest degree of true 
 feudal representation, the poet displajys a fairly accurate 
 knowledge of the districts involved in the action of the poem. 
 This higher accuracy and more detailed style of the feudal or 
 provincial poetry as compared with the National epic and the 
 
 opirenze, 1884, pp. S29-S42- 
 
 13 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 romans d'aventure, is the natural result of the subject-material. 
 The National epic covers areas so large that the poet could 
 not be expected to be intimately acquainted with the whole field ; 
 the accuracy of the romcms d'aventure suffers from the same 
 largeness of the field of action, and in addition, by reason of 
 their fantastic nature, they are less dependent upon the cor- 
 rectness of details of locality. On the other hand, the poet in 
 the Feudal epic bases his narration directly upon the life of 
 the period, and deals with a comparatively restricted area in the 
 individual poem. 
 
 II 
 
 Under Charlemagne (768-814) and Louis I (814-840), there 
 was no sharp delimitation of continental Western Europe like 
 that of the three great present-day states of France, Germany, 
 and Italy. The Roman Empire was a political entity, and what- 
 ever subdivisions existed were of an administrative nature. But 
 even at this time there was a distinct consciousness of race 
 individuality among the several nations ruled by Charlemagne 
 and his son Louis.® This sense of difference was not national- 
 ism, involving the political limits of the State, but was rather 
 the separation caused by physical barriers, aided by variance 
 of language and custom. Germany, bounded by the Rhine, 
 and Italy, isolated from neighboring states by the Alps and the 
 Rhone, were geographically separate from France. 
 
 Recognition of this three-fold character of the Empire is 
 found in a royal decree of the year 806 to the effect that a 
 man might commend himself as a vassal to whom he would, 
 "inter haec tria regna."'' 
 
 This inherent racial cleavage appeared in the first definitive 
 division of the Empire, in 843, under Charles le Chauve. In 
 that year, by the treaty of Verdun, France was established 
 as all that territory west of the Meuse, the Saone, and the 
 Rhone. Between the Rhine, Meuse, Saone, Rhone, was the 
 kingdom of Lothaire, receiving its name of Lorraine (Lothar- 
 
 8 E. A. Freeman, Historical Geography of Europe, Text, I, 134 flf. 
 T Baluzius, a. 806, I, col. 443, sec. 10. 
 
 14 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 ingia) from Lothaire II (855-869). Lothaire's kingdom in- 
 cluded also the city of Lyons, and all Italy. Beyond the 
 Rhine, and including the cities of Mainz, Worms, and Speyer, 
 was the kingdom of Germany.* 
 
 However, in the kingdom of France so constituted under 
 Charles le Chauve, Aquitania, Septimania and Brittany were 
 practically independent. 
 
 A distinction should be made at this point between the two 
 uses of the term France, in this and later epochs. At the 
 period of the first division in the ninth century, France in- 
 cluded all the territory delimited above, viz., that part of the 
 Empire which was not included in Italy and its dependency 
 Lorraine, and Germany. But a second use of the word came 
 into existence, and is a cause of much confusion in the study 
 of the political and geographical history of France. Besides 
 the first and larger application, France denoted the territory 
 ruled over by the king of France. Now, under Charles le 
 Chauve, these two terms were nearly synonymous; Charles 
 governed the greater part of the domain conceded to him by 
 the treaty of Verdun, and had at least a nominal right to the 
 remainder. But under succeeding rulers, the power of the 
 French crown became more and more restricted, until it was 
 limited to the Ile-de-France and immediately adjoining terri- 
 tory. And as soon as this was true, the word France in any 
 text of the period could denote strictly the limited region di- 
 rectly subject to the king, or it might retain the earlier and 
 broader meaning that it possessed at the time of Charles le 
 Chauve. Both of these uses are common in French feudal 
 poetry, but frequently in a context so vague that it is impossi- 
 ble to determine which interpretation is to be given in any 
 particular instance.* 
 
 HI 
 
 In the first half or possibly first three quarters of the ninth 
 
 8 Cf. A. Longnon, Atlas historique, Paris, 1912, planche VI, carte for 
 843 ; cf . also Texte explicatif des planches, planche VI. 
 
 * For a more detailed discussion of the use of the term France, cf, 
 Hoefft, and Kurth, supra. Also Gautier, L'idee politique, p. 84, note 3. 
 
 IS 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 century, there are two poems that should be cited for their 
 geographical and political relation to the epoch. The first of 
 these is the Floovant. In a subsequent chapter of this study 
 the age of the poem is discussed in detail ; it is sufficient here 
 to say that it has been authoritatively connected with historical 
 events as early as the age of the Merovingians.^" In the 
 Floovant, the palace of the king is given at one time as at Laon 
 and at another as in Paris. The naming of these two places as 
 capitals of the kingdom would imply, of course, that the com- 
 position of the poem was subsequent to the division of the 
 Empire in 843. The fact is not in itself conclusive, but there 
 is further evidence in other incidents in the narrative. Floovant 
 is exiled from France, and leaves that realm for the Ardennes, 
 fighting on the banks of the Rhine, and serving a king whose 
 capital is at Beaufort (now Belfort in the Upper Rhine coun- 
 try). Returning to France ' through Bourgogne, Floovant is 
 crowned at Reims. Such a story involves a France under the 
 rule of a king who does not include the Ardennes nor Bour- 
 gogne within his domains, and so could not be prior to the 
 division of 843.^^ Other considerations, discussed later on, 
 indicate a very early origin, so that the original poem may be 
 assigned to the middle of the ninth century. 
 
 The poem of the Couronnement de Louis in its earliest form 
 is also of the same period. This work, composed of not less 
 than five distinct parts, is related to events of the last half 
 of the ninth century, and would seem to have originated near 
 the time of the historical events with which it deals. The 
 action is largely at Aix-la-Chapelle, Laon, and Paris. Accord- 
 ing to Gaston Paris, the mention of Aix-la-Chapelle is prob- 
 ably a reminiscence of the age when Charlemagne and his son 
 Louis held this place in high favor and made it virtually the 
 capital of the Empire.^^ The mention of Aix-la-Chapelle as one 
 
 1" Cf . Rajna, Origini, VI, 131 ff. ; cf. also infra, chapters IV and V. 
 
 i^-The treatment of the age of Floovant in this chapter is based 
 wholly upon the geographical and political content of the poem. It 
 does not imply that a part of the narrative may not be based upon 
 traditions of earlier origin. Cf. Rajna, Origini, 146-7. 
 
 ^^Histoire poetique, 367 &. Cf. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the 
 Roman Empire, ed. Bury, Lxjndon, 1900, V, 273 note, and VII, 311. 
 
 16 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 of the capital cities of the king of France occurs in other poems 
 of much later composition, but in them the memory is not of 
 the actual fact, but is merely a repetition from the earlier 
 poems, such as the Couronnement de Louis, and possibly the 
 Roland. That the Couronnement was not composed earlier 
 than the last half of the ninth century is shown by the historical 
 events of that period mentioned in the poem.^' That it was 
 not very much later is indicated by the considerations presented 
 in the fourth chapter of this study. 
 
 Another poem of the same period, or perhaps earlier, has 
 come down in such altered form that it is difficult to establish 
 closely the date of its composition, although it is at any rate 
 not later than the Couronnement. This poem is the Beuves 
 d'Aigremont, which is incorporated as the first episode of the 
 Quatre Fits Aymon. The connection with the main poem is 
 entirely artificial, and although the language is modernized, 
 and the origin obscured in the attempt to connect it with the 
 later poem, the wide differences in manners and customs show 
 valid traces of the antiquity of the Beuves.^^ The fragment is 
 a reminiscence of the age of imperial power when the extent 
 of the jurisdiction of the Emperor was limited only by his 
 ability to enforce his will on his rebellious vassals. Aigremont, 
 the home of the baron whose death is related in the poem, is 
 not on the map. The general location is indicated by internal 
 evidence. In travelling from Aigremont to Troyes, Beuves 
 passes through Lombardy;^' and on another occasion, going 
 from Aigremont towards Paris, he passes through Bourgogne, 
 and is slain there.^" From this it would appear that Aigre- 
 mont was in Lombardy. So Beuves would be under the au- 
 thority of the king of France only if that king were also king 
 of Italy. Such a political status reflected in the poem indicates 
 that the tradition harks back to the age of the Empire of 
 Charlemagne, or of Louis I. 
 
 Also in this same period is the Gormund et hembard. The 
 
 13 Cf . infra, chapter IV. 
 
 i*Cf. Quatre Fits Aymon, pp. 40-43. 
 
 ^^ Ibid., V. 1094. 
 
 18 Ibid., vv. 1485-97- 
 
 17 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 action of this poem centers at Ponthieu, and Saint-Riquier. 
 Ponthieu, an ancient division of France, in the present-day 
 departement of the Somme, was under the authority of the 
 French king to a greater or less degree, at least until the ac- 
 cession of Charles le Gros in 884. In the existing fragment of 
 the poem the king is represented as taking a considerable part 
 in the action, as might be expected from the proximity of the 
 scene to the seat of the royal power. 
 
 IV 
 
 Near the end of his reign, in 870, Charles le Chauve divided 
 Lorraine and Bourgogne with Louis le Germanique. To 
 France fell the western districts between the Meuse and the 
 Scheldt, and the counties of Lyon and Vienne. To Germany 
 went eastern Lorraine, together with trans juran Bourgogne. 
 But France thus enlarged was not to maintain its unity.^^ In 
 879, at the death of Louis le Begue, his two sons divided the 
 kingdom between them, Louis III ruling in the north of France, 
 Carloman in Aquitania and Bourgogne. And in 880, Boson, 
 brother-in-law of Charles le Chauve, usurped Bourgogne and 
 Provence, forming a state which, after varying fortunes, es- 
 tablished itself as the kingdom of Bourgogne, coming to be 
 known towards the end of the twelfth century as the kingdom 
 of Aries, from the name of its capital city. This kingdom was 
 ruled by independent sovereigns until the year 1032, when at 
 the death of the last sovereign, Rudolph III, it passed by be- 
 quest of Rudolph to the Emperor Conrad II. A nominal Ger- 
 man domination continued until 1246, when Provence passed 
 by marriage to the House of Anjou.^* 
 
 Under Charles le Gros (884-888) and Eudes (888-898) the 
 parts of the kingdom divided by preceding rulers were united 
 again, but neither king had more than nominal authority south 
 of the Loire. During the reign of Charles III, le Simple (898- 
 
 " Cf. Longnon, Atlas and Texte, carte for 870. 
 
 ^^Ihid., carte for 880. The subject is treated at length in P. Fournier, 
 Le Royaume d' Aries et de Vienne, Paris, 1891, especially the first two 
 volumes. 
 
 18 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 922), Normandy was lost — a loss the extent of which was in- 
 creased by reason of the weakness of succeeding kings.^* 
 Not until 1204, at the time of Philip II, was Normandy given 
 back to France. In 1108, at the death of Philip I, the immedi- 
 ate dominion of the king of France was limited to Paris, 
 Melun, fitampes, Orleans, Sens ; i.e., the modern departements 
 of the Seine, Seine-et-Oise, Seine-et-Marne, and Loiret. Be- 
 yond this the king exercised a certain nominal authority, which 
 grew less as it extended from the Ile-de-France. 
 
 V 
 
 To this period of extreme central weakness, which prevailed 
 from the accession of Charles III in 898 to the reign of 
 Hugues Capet in 987, are to be assigned the poems of Raoul 
 de Cambrai, and Auberi le Bourgoing. The primitive nature of 
 the warriors whose deeds are related in these narratives com- 
 pares well with the Beuves d'Aigremont. These two poems of 
 the tenth century, however, are marked with the traces of 
 early feudalism. Both reflect the anarchy of the epoch between 
 the collapse of the royal power and the complete establishment 
 of the feudal system. 
 
 The action of the Raoul is concentrated about Cambrai and 
 Saint-Quentin. And in this district the barons are entirely free 
 from interference by the king. Politically such was the case 
 throughout the tenth and eleventh centuries. In the first part 
 of the Raoul the action is connected nominally with the court 
 of the king at Paris. But this introduction of the king and his 
 court is in the nature of a prologue and accessory basis of the 
 action proper, which transpires beyond the sphere of any active 
 intervention by the king. So much, at least, is true of the 
 primitive part of the Raoul de Cambrai. Nominally, in this 
 poem, the feudal lords recognize the king's authority. Actually 
 they are very nearly independent in so far as their conduct 
 does not question his sovereignty. And the picture given by 
 the poet is wholly in keeping with the conditions of that age. 
 
 The scene of Auberi le Bourgoing is yet further removed 
 
 "Cf. Longnon, supra, carte for 912. 
 
 19 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 from the influence of the king of France. The action takes 
 place largely in the Ardennes, Bourgogne, and the borders of 
 Bavaria and Switzerland. Also a minor connection is made 
 with Paris and the king, by means of the rather artificial ap- 
 peal of the robber Lambert for protection against Auberi ; and 
 subsequent thereto certain elements of the action have their 
 place at or near Paris. 
 
 VI 
 
 The poems of Garin le Lohermn, the Mart Garin, and 
 Gerhert de Metz, are of the eleventh century. These first 
 two chansons, forming a single story, and composed in similar 
 style, if not by the same author, are very clear in details of 
 geography. The journeys of the warriors to and fro are 
 carefully measured, the poet even stating exact distances, as in 
 the following passage : 
 
 A Anserville 
 
 A quatre liues de Mez la grant cite.^" 
 
 The poet's interest in geographical details is clearly shown 
 by the following typical passage : 
 
 IMe trouverent a Bordelle la cit (p. l86). 
 Ains que fust vespres a Gironville vint (p. 187). 
 
 Gironville is at the mouth of the Gironde, about fifteen miles 
 from Bordeaux. 
 
 Li OS Begon de Blaives departit (p. 188). 
 Blayes is fifteen miles from Bordeaux, and thirty from 
 Gironville. 
 
 Par Grand Mont va, iluec ont messe oi (p. 188). 
 Grandmont is on the road from Gascogne to Berry, fifteen 
 miles from Limoges. 
 
 A Issoudun en vinrent au dormir (p. 191). 
 Issoudun is a town in Berry, fifty-five miles from 
 Grandmont. 
 
 Droit vers Bourgogne acuetUent lor chemin, 
 Tant que lis yinrent a Bourbon Lanceis, 
 Assez i ot qui es bains se sunt mis (p. 192). 
 
 20 Anserville, now Ancerville-sur-Nied, twelve miles from Metz. 
 Garin le Loherain, I, p. 58. 
 
 20 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 Bourbon I'Ansy is a very small town in Bourgogne, thirty 
 
 miles from Autun, and one and a half miles from the Loire. 
 
 (Cf. Espilly, Dictionnaire de la France, sub voce). 
 
 Droit a Biaugiu firent lor ost venir (p. 193). 
 
 Beaujeu is in the Beaujolais, 18 miles from Macon. 
 
 Sor Belle ville furent li ostel prins (p. 194). 
 
 Belleville, on the Saone, is 12 miles from Beaujeu. 
 
 Pres de Lions la grant cite de pris, 
 D'iluec puet-on les cloches cler oir 
 De la cite, qnant on les fait bondir (p. 195) .^^ 
 
 Thus is seen accurately traced a journey of some 250 miles, 
 with nine towns indicated along the route. The passage de- 
 monstrates most convincingly the general reliability of the 
 feudal epic in matters of geography. 
 
 As a final instance, it may be suggested that the mention, for 
 example, of a town as small as Naisil (Naix-aux-Forges), or 
 Belin (near Bordeaux), is evidence of an unusually minute 
 geographical knowledge for the age in which the poem was 
 written. Another such typical reference is to the Pont-Girbert, 
 a place so insignificant that only a person familiar with the 
 district would be able to cite it.^^ 
 
 The action is spread over a comparatively large territory, 
 but is described with the greatest accuracy in the neighbor- 
 hood of Paris, and the district to the north, Picardy. The 
 chief centers of action are Paris, Verdun, Metz, Senlis, Cam- 
 brai, Saint-Quentin, Amiens, Saint-Omer, Laon, fitampes, 
 Bordeaux, and Moriane (Maurienne in Savoie). The king is 
 represented as taking a central position in the action — a fact 
 consistent with the location of the plot in the north of France, 
 in the immediate domains of the king. Northern Bourgogne 
 and the Dauphine, where a part of the action is cast, were at 
 this time under the nominal sovereignty of France, but were 
 not considered a part of France.^* 
 
 The chanson of Gerhert de Metz centers approximately at 
 the same places as the preceding two poems, though there is 
 
 21 Ibid., I. 
 
 ^^ibid., I, p. 16. 
 
 23 Cf . Longnon, supra, planche XI. 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 less geographical detail in the fragment of the poem that has 
 come down. A second minor fragment, dealing with the siege 
 of Gerbert at Narbonne, and therefore concerned with a dis- 
 trict quite out of the king's jurisdiction, consistently excludes 
 the king from any part in the action.^* The king is not usually 
 omitted in the feudal poems when the action is made to take 
 place within the king's domains. 
 
 VII 
 
 When Louis VI died, in 1137, his kingdom extended from 
 the Somme and the borders of Flanders to the River Adour 
 and the ridges of the Pyrenees. Finally in 1204 Philip II 
 brought Normandy back to France. Also, during the thir- 
 teenth century, the kingdom of Aries was breaking up, and 
 was coming back definitively to French control.^^ 
 
 Beginning with the reign of Louis VI, the feudal poems 
 show the increasing domination of the royal power. And from 
 this time on, the geographical location of the action is of small 
 importance, because everywhere in France the power of the 
 king was making itself felt with constantly increasing effect. 
 This is to be observed in the poems that follow: the Aye 
 d^ Avignon, of the second quarter of the twelfth century ; the 
 second part of the Quatre Fils Aymon; the first half of the 
 Aiol, about 1160; and the Gerard de Rossillon, shortly after; 
 Ogier, Guy de NanteuU, Guy de Bourgogne, Otinel, Gay don, 
 in the last quarter of the century ; and the second half of the 
 Aiol and the Hervis de Metz, and probably some others, in the 
 first decade or two of the thirteenth century. 
 
 In addition to the increasing evidence of the king's authority 
 in this last group of poems, there is one other political fact 
 worthy of mention by reason of its bearing on the age of the 
 Quatre Fils Aymon. The action of a considerable part of this 
 chanson is in the neighborhood of Bordeaux. In the year 1154, 
 Henry of Anjou became king of England as Henry II, and 
 from that time until 1453 Bordeaux was under English 
 
 2*£'tV Befreiung Narbonne's durch Gerbert de Mh, Stengel (Zeit- 
 schrift fur fransosische Sprache und Litteraiur, XXIII, looi, 271-301) 
 25Cf . supra, p. 18 and note. 
 
 22 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 suzerainty.^^ The absence of any recognition of the event may 
 be considered as negative evidence that the Quatre Fils Aymon 
 was composed prior to this time. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Thus far the discussion has been chiefly of the general 
 aspects of the geography of the poetry in its relation to the 
 political history of the geography of France. The question yet 
 to be considered is that of the territory in which the poems 
 were composed. Some evidence towards the solution of this 
 problem is to be had by a more detailed analysis of the geo- 
 graphical centers of action in the various poems. 
 
 In the first place, it is evident that the district involved in 
 the action of a poem is properly to be taken into account as 
 strong evidence of the place of its composition.^'' Two obvious 
 reasons point to this : first, the fact that a poet living, say, in 
 the Cambresis, would be interested most naturally in that 
 region, and could count most surely upon holding his audience 
 with the narration of the deeds of heroes whose lives were 
 local traditions of the general Picard district. In the second 
 place a Picard poet would not by preference treat of remote 
 regions, such as Provence, or Spain, except in a manifestly 
 fanciful tale, with no pretense to naming actual places ; for the 
 difficulties of travel, and the lack of reliable means of inter- 
 communication between districts, made it impossible for a man 
 to be accurately acquainted with all parts of the country. This 
 is especially true of those poems composed in the tenth century 
 or earlier, although it is still relatively true of an epoch as late 
 as the chansons de Garin in the eleventh century. For the poet 
 in the Garin, thoroughly conversant as he is with France as a 
 whole, shows a preference for and a greater accuracy in the 
 district immediately about Paris, and in the region to the north. 
 
 28 Cf. Longnon, Atlas, planche XII, carte for 1154. 
 
 27 Cf. P. Paris, Garin, I, xix. Speaking of Jean de Flagy (author of 
 at least a part of the Garin), Paris says: "Jean de Flagy etait sans 
 doute ne sur les marches de Champagne: . . . Ce qui doit le supposer, 
 c'est I'exactitude minutieuse avec laquelle il decrit les lieux et les 
 edifices, determine les distances et distingue les nombreuses families 
 feodales de cette partie de la France." 
 
 23 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 The remainder of this chapter is therefore devoted to a tabula- 
 tion of the principal points of action in the poems already 
 mentioned. The effort is not to reproduce every place name 
 that occurs in the poetry, but to single out only those that are 
 deemed of importance in the action of each poem. And for 
 the sake of comparison, and because the poems naturally lend 
 themselves to such treatment, the discussion is in three divi- 
 sions, according to the epoch in which each group of poems 
 falls. 
 
 IX 
 
 The first group comprises the six poems composed during 
 the ninth and tenth centuries: Floovant, Couronnement de 
 Louis, Beuves d'Aigremont, G^rmund et Isembard, Raoul de 
 Cambrai, Auberi le Bourgoing. The cities and districts in 
 which the action takes place are as follows : 
 
 In the Floovant: Laon (Aisne), Paris (Seine), Ardennes Forest 
 (Belgian border), Bank of the Rhine River, Beaufort (Belfort in the 
 Upper Rhine country), Chateau Auviliers (in Burgundian territory) ,28 
 Bourgogne,29 Saint Remi (at Laon). 
 
 In the Couronnement de Louis: Aix-la-Chapelle,'* Tours (Indre-et- 
 Loire), Poitiers (Vienne), Bordeaux (Gironde), Montreuil-sur-mer 
 <Montreuil in the Pas-de-Calais), Paris, Laon. 
 
 In the Beuves d'Aigremont: Paris, Aigremont (in Northern Lom- 
 bardy), Lombardy, Troyes (Aube), Floridon (in Bourgogne), Bour- 
 gogne. 
 
 In the Gormuntt et Isembard: Ponthieu (Somme), Saint-Riquier 
 (Somine, near Abbeville) . si 
 
 In the Raoul de Cambrai: Cambrai (Nord), Origny (Aisne), Saint- 
 Quentin (Aisne), Paris. 
 
 In the Auberi le Bourgoing: Paris, Greneva, Ostesin (in the Marche 
 
 28 Cf i^anglois. Table des Noms propres de toute nature compris 
 dans les chansons de geste, Paris, 1904, sub voce: Langlois says merely 
 tn France, but at this time the part of France indicated was Bourgogne. 
 Cf. supra, p. 18, historical statement for Bourgogne 
 
 29 Cf. ibid. 
 
 s»In general, territory outside of France is not included in the dis- 
 cussion. Exception is made of the districts adjoining France on the 
 North and East. 
 
 81 Ponthieu was an ancient division of France, with Abbeville as the 
 chief city. 
 
 24 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 de Bourgogne), Ostenne (Bourgogne?), Vienne (on the Rhone, Isere), 
 Langres (Haute-Marne), Bavaria, Oridon (in the Ardennes Forest), 
 Chateau d'Aufais (between Hainaut and Bavaria), Clarendon (Arden- 
 nes Forest?). 
 
 In the first four of the above six poems the geography is 
 somewhat impaired, probably by reason of frequent redaction. 
 The last two are more precise, especially the Raoul de Cambrai, 
 in which the poet consistently shows thorough knowledge of 
 the district in which he places the action of the poem. This may 
 be explained by the fact that the Raoul de Cambrcd and the 
 Auberi le Bourgoing, poems of the tenth century, are of later 
 composition than the preceding four chansons, and have con- 
 sequently suffered less at the hands of redactors, in coming 
 down to the period of fixation, the thirteenth century. 
 
 The territory in which the greater part of the action of this 
 group of poems centers may be located by a line drawn as 
 follows : from Montreuil (Pas-de-Calais) to Paris, then through 
 Troyes (Aube) to Vienne (Isere) ; due east to Northern 
 Italy, then North along the western valley of the Rhine to 
 Aix-la-Chapelle ; southwest to the Ardennes, and northwest 
 to Montreuil. Or, to state it in general figures, a parallelogram 
 along the eastern border of France from Vienne (fifty miles 
 north of Grenoble in the Isere) north to Aix-la-Chapelle, some 
 350 miles in length north and south and 120 miles across east 
 and west, plus a triangle with base along the longer side of the 
 parallelogram, the three corners at Vienne, Montreuil, Ar- 
 dennes, respectively. Besides this territory, in the two poems, 
 Floavant and the Couronnewient de Louis, there is minor 
 action to the southwest of Paris. It has already been indi- 
 cated, however, that these two poems, for the reason of their 
 great age and wide divergence in their present form from what 
 was the original, cannot be accorded an equal weight of evi- 
 dence with the chansons of the tenth and eleventh centuries. 
 Even in the Floovant and the Couronnement, the major part 
 of the action takes place in the territory outlined, and only the 
 secondary adventures are made to the southwest. So it may be 
 said, from the point of view of geographical evidence, that the 
 
 2S 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 earliest feudal poetry had its origin in the eastern and northern 
 borderlands of France, but especially in the Burgundian dis- 
 tricts, and the adjoining part of France. In the second place, 
 there is to be noted in all these poems a connection with 
 Paris, or with Paris and Laon, as capital of France.'^ So the 
 poet, living as he may well have done, on the outermost 
 borders of the kingdom, nevertheless felt himself a French- 
 man by race and preference, though possibly at times under 
 foreign domination politically.^^ 
 
 The second group, composed of poems of the eleventh cen- 
 tury, comprises the Garin le Loherain, the Mart Garin, the 
 Gerbert de Metz, and the Anse'is de Metz}*' These four poems 
 are parts of a single narrative, and are practically identical 
 in territory. The chief course of the action in this group may 
 therefore be listed together as follows :'^ 
 
 Lyon (on the Rhone, Rhone), Paris, Fosses (Seine-et-Oise), Sens 
 (Yonne), Soissons (Aisne), Lagny (Seine-et-Marne), Troyes, Cha- 
 lons (Marne), Verdun (Meuse), Metz (Lorraine), Gorze (12 miles 
 from Metz, Lorraine), Laon (Aisne), 'Cambrai, Cologne, Ancerville- 
 sur-Nied (12 2miles from Metz, Lorraine), Langres, Moriane (Mauri- 
 enne, Savoie),^^ Vienne, Valparfonde (12 miles from Chambery, 
 Savoie) , Saint-Quentin, Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais), Ponthieu, Amiens 
 (Somme), Crevecoeur (Oise), Dijon (Cote-d'Or), Chateau-Thierry 
 (Aisne), Gironville (Gironde?), Grandmont (near Limoges, Haute- 
 Vienne), Neuf-Chatel (near Laon, Aisne), Plesseis (in the Borde- 
 lais), Bar-le-duc (Meuse), Naisil (Naix-aux-Forges, near Bar-le-duc, 
 
 82 Except the Gormund et Isemhard, which, being fragmentary, cannot 
 be definitely called an exception; and this poem, moreover, includes in 
 the action a King Louis of France, who of course had a capital at 
 Paris or Laon. Cf. G. Paris, Histoire poetique, 367 S. for a discussion 
 of Paris, Laon, and Aix^la-Chapelle, as residences of the king of 
 France in the French National Epic poetry. 
 
 33 Cf. Brockstedt, Floovent-Studien, Kiel, 1907, p. 162. 
 
 3* Not edited. Cf. Histoire litteraire, XXII, pp. 633-641. The frag- 
 ments published hardly warrant an unqualified judgment. The style 
 of the parts available indicates a period several decades later than die 
 Garin and the Mart Garin. 
 
 86 In Die Befreiung Narbonne's durch Gerbert de Mis, the action 
 is at Narbonne (Aude). 
 
 88 Generally the modern names are given, except when the connection 
 is not obvious, in which case the ancient name is given first, and the 
 modern in parentheses. 
 
 26 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 Meuse), Bordeaux, Orleans (Loiret), Cahors (Lot), Blaye (Gironde), 
 Lens (Pas-de-Calais), Blancafort (Blanquefort, Gironde), Valen- 
 ciennes (Nord), Senlis (Oise), Saint-Michel (Mont-Saint-Michel, 
 Manche), fitampes (Seine-et-Oise), Peronne (Somme), Vausore 
 (Aisne), Bar-sur-Aube (Aube), Limoges (Haute- Vienne), Bourges 
 ('Cher), Berry (ancient district of France, capital city Bourges), Saint- 
 Macaire (Gironde), Mousson (Meurthe-et-Moselle), Rethel (Arden- 
 nes), Hainaut (province of Belgium), Vermandois (ancient division 
 of France, capital city Saiirt-Quentin) . 
 
 In these four poems of the second group, the change in the 
 field of action from the first group is to be noted as follows: 
 first, there is a concentration of action in Picardy, Champagne, 
 and the Ile-de-France, while Eastern France still maintains a 
 position of some importance. The second feature is the placing 
 of a not inconsiderable part of the action southwest of Paris 
 as far as Bordeaux. Whether there is any particular signifi- 
 cance in the direction of this extension is not apparent.^'' 
 
 XI 
 
 The third group of poems comprises those which were com- 
 posed during the twelfth century. In approximate order of 
 composition they are: Aye d' Avignon, Quatre Fits Aymon 
 (second section), Quatre Fits Aymon (remainder), Aiol, 
 Gerard de Rossillon, Ogier, Guy de Nanteuil, Guy de Bour- 
 gogne, Otinel, Gay don, Hervis de Metz. The action is 
 centered as follows : 
 
 In the Aye d'Avijgnon: Laon, Soissons, Avignon (Vaucluse), 
 Lorion (?), Graillemont and the Plains of Landemore (South 
 France) . 
 
 In the Quatre Fits Aymon (second section, from the end of the 
 Bewves d'Aigremont episode to the conclusion of the adventures in the 
 Ardennes) : Ardennes Forest. 
 
 In the Quatre Fils Aymon (remainder) : Paris, Bordeaux, Gas- 
 cogne, Tremoigne (Dortmund in Westphalia). 
 
 In the Aiol: Bordeaux, Poitiers, Orleans, Bourges, Langres, Lau- 
 sanne (Switzerland) ; also in Spain, at Pampelune. 
 
 In the Girard de Rossillon: Ardennes Forest, Avignon, Rossillon 
 (ancient province of France, almost all the departement of the 
 
 8' Cf. supra, p. 22. 
 
 27 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 Pyrenees-Orientales), Chatillon (Cote-d'Or), Orleans, Paris, Avalon 
 (Yonne), Plains of Valberon (Vaubouton, near Vezelay, Yonne), 
 Dijon, Peira Nauza (Pierenause, near the town of Roussillon in the 
 Isere) .^^ 
 
 In the Ogier: Paris, Saint-Oraer, Besangon (Doubs), Reims, 
 Lausanne, Cambre (near Aoste), Aiiste (Aoste in Piedmont), Losarie 
 (at the foot of the Alps, between Besangon and Italy), Laon, Chastel- 
 Fort (lower Rhone River), Montchevroel (near Chastel-Fort), Beau- 
 vais (Oise), Dijon, Yvorie (Ivree, in Italy), Saint-Tieri (near Saint- 
 Ajosse), Saint-Ajosse (in Italy), Vergiaus (Verceil, in Piedmont). 
 
 In the Guy de Nanteuil: Paris, fitampes, Samois (near Fontaine- 
 bleau, Seine-et-Marne), Nanteuil (Oise) ; Paris and Nanteuil are most 
 important. 
 
 In the Guy de Bourgogne: Paris. (The remainder of the action is in 
 Spain.) 
 
 In the Otinel : Paris. (The remainder of the action is in Lombardy.) 
 
 In the Gaydon: Angers (Maine-et-Loire), Orleans, Nobles (in 
 Spain), Val de Glaye (in France). Scene chiefly at Angers, which is 
 considered outside France. (Cf. p. 327.) 
 
 In the Hervis de Metz: Metz, Lovaing (Louvain in Belgium), 
 Nivelle (in Belgium), Bruxelles, Senlis, Paris, Provins (Seine-et- 
 Marne?), Lagny. 
 
 The most evident trait of this twelfth century poetry is the 
 apparent lack of attention to geographical details, as compared 
 with the preceding group, the poetry of the eleventh contury. 
 In the second place there is to be noted the constantly enlarg- 
 ing territory included in the action. The districts to the north 
 and east of France still retain the preponderance of the action, 
 but in no exclusive degree; the whole of France is involved, 
 and Italy as well. This broadening of the field of action is of 
 course quite in keeeping with the gradually extending power 
 of the king of France. 
 
 XII 
 
 The general observations that result from the above analysis 
 of the place-names in the feudal poetry may be briefly stated 
 as follows: In the first place, it is evident that the various 
 poems reflect to a considerable degree the political geography 
 of France at the respective epochs of composition of the indi- 
 vidual poems. Conversely, this coincidence of data in history 
 and poetry confirms the ages assigned to the various chansons. 
 
 88 Cf. Langlois, Table des Noms propres, sub voce. 
 
 28 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEUDAL EPIC 
 
 There is a certain confusion due to an indefinite use of the 
 word France, resulting from the failure to distinguish, in the 
 post-Carolingian and Feudal periods, between the territory 
 directly ruled by the king, and that affiliated with the French 
 nation by race and preference. 
 
 Secondly, it has been observed that the poems which are 
 the most feudal in spirit and age are those in which the geo- 
 graphical details are treated with the greatest accuracy; 
 namely, Raoul de Cambrai, Garin le Loherain, Mart Garin. In 
 this group of feudal poetry, the more a chanson tends towards 
 the roman d'aventure style, the less accurate is the geography, 
 as in the Hervis de Metz, Guy de Bourgogne, etc. And the 
 same proportion of correctness in the same poems will be 
 found, as the discussion of succeeding chapters will show, 
 to prevail in regard to the feudal customs reflected by the 
 poetry. 
 
 Finally, as indicating in a general way the locality of the 
 composition, the scene of the action of the poetry may be 
 traced thus : during the ninth century the poetry had its origin 
 on the eastern borderlands of France and the adjacent coun- 
 tries. The authors were French, if not by political affiliation, at 
 least by racial connection and personal preference. Almost 
 at the same time the field of action spread along the northern 
 border, implying a similar extension of composition. During 
 the tenth century, the Raoul de Cambrai, and the Auberi le 
 Bourgoing evidence the action even more definitely in these 
 same districts, Picardy and Bourgogne especially. The eleventh 
 century shows a continuation of the original influence, but in 
 addition marks the beginning of the extension of the action to 
 southwestern France. In the more accurate poems of this 
 time, however, the Garin, and the Mart Garin, the territorial 
 preference is still Picardy, Champagne, and the Ile-de-France. 
 Finally, in the twelfth century, the process of diffusion is com- 
 pleted : practically the whole of France is included impartially 
 in the action of the poetry, and Italy has come to play a con- 
 siderable part. From this time on, geography has no general 
 value for the determination of the origin of the Feudal French 
 poetry. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON. 
 I 
 The purpose of the present chapter is to point out certain 
 salient traits of character of the feudal baron^ as he is 
 portrayed in the body of the poetry specified in chapter I 
 of this study, represented as dwelling within territory the ex- 
 tent of which has been delimited in chapter II. In the last 
 quarter of the nineteenth century there appeared two notable 
 works on medieval life and customs. Das hofische leben by 
 Alwin Schultz (1879-80),^ and La Chevalerie by Leon Gautier 
 (1884). The studies of both these scholars are of great con- 
 structive value in this field, yet by the very nature of their 
 methods of approach neither has given a composite portrait 
 of the feudal man as he really was in those times. Schultz's 
 work, done from the point of view of an art historian, has 
 rather the value of a dictionary of medieval life in almost 
 itemized detail, whereas Gautier has produced an historical 
 novel with the Knight of Chivalry depicted in high romantic 
 coloring. Both writers drew their materials from virtually 
 identical sources. Each method has its defect as a medium of 
 interpretation of the inner qualities of the feudal man, espe- 
 cially by reason of the use of sources so widely divergent in 
 age and quality as the Roland, the later roman d'aventure, 
 and the Court Epic. The endeavor in this study, necessarily 
 much more restricted in scope, is to avoid either of these ex- 
 
 ^The distinction is to be made between the modern title of baron, 
 conferred by the royal authority, and the feudal meaning of the word. 
 Baron is here used in the feudal sense, i.e., primarily, any one of the 
 great feudal lords, and secondarily any valiant warrior. 
 
 2 Das hofische leben sur zeit der minnesinger, 2d ed., Leipzig, 1889- 
 90. 
 
 30 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 tremes by considering only those characteristics which are of 
 first importance, while at the same time limiting the study to 
 the period of the full and unhindered operation of feudalism, 
 from the beginning of the eleventh century to the opening 
 years of the thirteenth. 
 
 At the outset, account must be taken of the fact that there 
 is no full and connected depiction of character in any of the 
 historical sources bearing on this age. The chronicles of the 
 period deal primarily with events, and character appears only 
 through the narration of deeds of action in the form of annals. 
 Yet this is rather an advantage, for even were some his- 
 torical figure described in the fullest detail, it would be 
 unwarrantable to assume that such an individual was of neces- 
 sity representative of the men of his age. A truer idea of the 
 nature of man is to be reached through a composite constructed 
 by means of an interpretation of the acts of many men, acts 
 that are typical because, at least in the poetic material, they are 
 repeated constantly in separate instances. 
 
 There are three historians whose works afford valuable 
 testimony of the epoch of feudalism in which they lived: 
 Ordericus Vitalis, to the west of the feudal territory delimited 
 in the preceding chapter ; Villehardouin, to the east of the same 
 territory, and Mouskes to the north. Ordericus Vitalis (1077- 
 1141), living in Normandy, was in direct touch with feudal 
 France; and his chronicle, unlike the lifeless tabulation of 
 events common to the period, evidences his active mind, awake 
 to the critical value of the material he treated. Geoffroi de 
 Villehardouin {ca. 1164-ca. 1219), of Champagne, was first of 
 all a warrior, and afterwards a historian. His work breathes 
 the life and energy that distinguished this author. Philippe de 
 Mouskes (ca. 1215-1282), of Hainaut, although not feudal in 
 time, is known to be a reliable source with regard to the feudal 
 period. In addition to these historians, mention may be made of 
 the verse history of Guillaume le Marechal, regent of England 
 from 1216 until his death in 1219. This last work is fairly ac- 
 curate historically, but less penetrating than the other three in 
 character depiction. 
 
 31 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 Paucity of details in delineation is a common failing of the 
 period. Action was what interested the writers; instead of 
 analysis they offered ordinarily a few stock descriptive phrases. 
 The usual form of characterization of a man in Guillaume le 
 Marechal is the mention of a single trait, as where, for example, 
 it is stated of the son of Henry II of England that "the young 
 king was generous, as becomes a king's son."^ Mouskes, for 
 his part, contents himself with saying that the warrior was 
 valiant, wise, and courteous,* while Villehardouin limits his 
 analysis to saying, upon the demise of one of his fellow nobles 
 (and on several other occasions), that his death was a great 
 loss to Christianity.' 
 
 Ordericus is the only one of the four historians who com- 
 ments in a distinctive way upon the different traits that marked 
 a given man above the others of his entourage. So, for in- 
 stance, he says of Geoffroi, son of Rotro, count of Mortagne 
 (near Alengon) that he was generous, handsome and strong; 
 that he had among his subjects warlike barons and brave gov- 
 ernors of castles; that he gave his daughters in marriage to 
 men of the rank of counts, from whom sprang a noble race of 
 children, so that Geoffroi was famed not only for his valor and 
 courage, but by reason of his wealth and alliances.® Even in 
 this description it is noteworthy how little is given directly of 
 the actual traits of the count, and how much interest is dis- 
 played in the manner in which his character was manifested. 
 
 ^ L'Mstoire de Guillaume le Marechal, ed. Meyer, Paris, 1891-94, vv. 
 1967 _ff. The passage refers to Henry, who in 1170 was nominally 
 associated as king with his father, Henry II, and bore the title, al- 
 though he did not live to succeed his father. 
 
 * Vaillans et sages et gentius; Chronique rimee de Philippe Mouskes, 
 ed. De Reiffenberg, II, Bruxelles 1838 (vol. I, 1836). Cf. vv. 15019, 
 1514s, 1S147, 15207, 15328-9, 15424-S, 15867-8, 16713, 19452. 
 
 ^ De la Conqueste de Constantinoble par Geoffroi de Villehardouin 
 et Henri de Valenciennes, ed. P. Paris, 1838, cxxv: grant damages 
 fu a la crestiente. Cf. cxkx, and again clvii. 
 
 6 Ordericus Vitalis, Historia ecclesiastica, ed. Le Prevost, Paris, 1838- 
 55, Liber VIII, chap. V, a. 1088: Goisfredus . . . erat magnanimus, 
 corpore ptdcher et yalidus . . . ; strenuosque barones, et in bellis acres 
 oppidanos suae ditioni subditos habebat. Filias quoque suas consulari- 
 bus viris dedit in matrimonio . . . ex quibus orta est elegans sobolis 
 generosae propago. Goisfredus itaque comes tot stemmatibus exoma- 
 batur, et armis animisque cum, divitiis et amicis fulciebatur. 
 
 32 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 To the question, raised by this passage, of the part that mili- 
 tary holdings and alliances by marriage had in determining the 
 status of the individual, further attention will be paid later, in 
 connection with the position of the feudal baron with respect 
 to his milieu. 
 
 Like all histories of the period, the feudal poetry gives ex- 
 pression to no deliberate estimate of the nature of the feudal 
 baron. But in another regard the poetry surpasses the history 
 as a basis for the interpretation of medieval character. And 
 this advantage of the poems over the chronicles lies in the 
 greater freedom of treatment open to the poet. In the poetry, 
 as in the historical documents, character must be searched out 
 through action only. But whereas any single incident in history 
 is of value primarily as indicative of the intimate qualities of 
 the person concerned, and only indirectly as descriptive of the 
 typical man of the age, the poetry on the contrary was born 
 of the poet's composite idea of the men of his time, and was 
 built out of many actual instances. And this delineation was 
 not limited in expression by the necessity of following details 
 of circumstance which rendered the history specific in applica- 
 tion, in contrast with the poetry descriptions, comprehending 
 as they did national traits in the narration of single episodes.'' 
 
 By reason of the custom of referring to the French feudal 
 poetry as epic, it is necessary to call attention to the fact that 
 there is no epic idealization in any of the poems of the feudal 
 group. The exception to be noted is the Roland, which is not 
 strictly feudal, for between this single instance of the national 
 epic and the rest of the provincial or feudal poetry there is a 
 wide gap.* Gautier, in his treatment of the later chivalry, failed 
 to appreciate fully the earlier origin of this feudal poetry, and 
 idealized the crude scenes of feudal life in keeping with his 
 depiction of the Christian institution of Chivalry. For the 
 feudal poetry rightly depicts just such an uncouth warrior, not 
 
 ''National, applied to France at this epoch, is approximately coinci- 
 dent with the territory delimited in the preceding chapter. 
 
 8 The Homeric epic, of course, is taken as the standard of judgment; 
 it is characterized by its national quality. The feudal poetry, on the 
 other hand, is provincial or sectional. 
 
 33 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 far removed from the savage in the mode of his life, as might 
 be expected of the age and environment of early feudalism. 
 And if in the poetry instances are rare of the gentler side of 
 man's nature, it is only due to the fact that the poems reflect 
 what was actual in feudal conditions." 
 
 II 
 The most evident trait of character of the feudal French 
 noble as described in the epic poetry is a bravery bordering on 
 insolence. This is illustrated with more than ordinary clear- 
 ness in Garin le Loherain, a poem of the end of the twelfth 
 century, but containing custom material of at least a century 
 earlier. The passage of import in this connection relates how 
 Begon, the brother of Garin le Loherain, besieged Naisil, the 
 stronghold of Bernard. The poet tells that the garrison made 
 sallies from time to time against the besieger, and in one of the 
 ensuing melees Bernard was captured by Begon, who there- 
 upon demanded the surrender of Naisil. Bernard assented and 
 called upon his son to yield up the castle for him. And the 
 son, Faucon, defiantly replied, with a sort of primitive humor: 
 "You ask the surrender of the castle to no purpose, for if I had 
 one foot in Paradise and the other in the castle of Naisil, I 
 would withdraw the one from Paradise and put it back in 
 Naisil!" And then Bernard, realizing that his son's words 
 sealed the sentence of death upon him (Bernard), showed his 
 careless valor in no doubtful wise. For he laughed outright, and 
 then spoke without fear of consequences. "Surely," cried 
 Bernard, "I know that you are my son, and that your mother 
 has never sinned against me!" Begon, of course, flew into a 
 rage, but eventually compromised, and the surrender of the 
 castle was made on condition that the defenders might depart 
 in peace.^" 
 
 » Apropos of the conditions of life at this time, the following verses 
 are of import, showing the poet's realization of the comparatively 
 short life of the man of that epoch {ca. 1225) ; om sol viure joves cent 
 am, /aora n'es mais del terz mem. Sordello, Lensegnamen d'onor 
 (Vita e Poesie di Sordello di Goito, De LoUis, no. 40, w. 134-S.) 
 
 10 Garin, I, pp. 232-233. 
 
 34 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 This insolent courage was born of the universal reliance 
 upon superior strength. Another aspect of this domination of 
 the physical element in the feudal regime is the fact that the 
 extent of the dependence of one fief upon another, and con- 
 sequently of one man upon another, was in direct ratio to the 
 psysical and moral strength of either man, if moral is taken 
 in the sense of strength of character. Men did not wish, of 
 course, to be subject to an overlord; they were compelled to 
 this submission by reasons of expediency. And it was the 
 constant effort of every individual to strengthen the bond of 
 those holding of him, while at the same time asserting himself 
 as independent as possible in regard to his superior. This 
 struggle, and the measure of its success, is most easily observed 
 in the case of the king and those barons holding directly of 
 him, by reason of the greater faithfulness of the portrayal of 
 these personages in history and in poetry. >■ 
 
 The fearless independence of the greater barons towards 
 the king is shown by an episode in the Garin, when Hervis 
 came to the king to request aid against the Saracens, who were 
 besieging his city of Metz. Hervis put his demand in unequi- 
 vocal terms : "I come to you. Emperor, for it is your duty to 
 guarantee the fief since I hold it of you." And when, being 
 advised by Hardre, an enemy of the Loherain family, the king 
 refused, the Duke Hervis went stark mad with rage. Then, 
 after an eloquent speech, in which he reminded the king of the 
 service he had aforetime rendered his royal master, he angrily 
 broke off his allegiance, declaring : "Since you fail me, I shall 
 seek aid elsewhere. And I shall no longer hold my fief of you, 
 nor so long as you live shall you ever have it again."^^ And 
 from there he went to Anseis, king of Cologne, and offered to 
 hold the fief of him in return for military aid. 
 
 This incident is also a pertinent example of the faithfulness 
 of the poetry as a reflection of actual conditions. An exact 
 counterpart is to be found in the Chronicle of Ordericus Vi- 
 talis. The historian relates that in the year 1090, Raoul II, 
 
 ^''- Ibid., pp. 52-55. Cf. Aliscans, 30568.: Et dist a% rots; Vostre 
 fief vous rendons! 
 
 35 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 lord of Conches (in the present department of Eure), when 
 his territory was laid waste by Count William of Evreux, went 
 to the court of Duke Robert, of whom he held, and laying 
 before him an account of the losses to which he was exposed 
 by the aggressions of his neighbors, demanded the aid which 
 he had a right to expect from his liege lord. But when his 
 complaints proved fruitless and he obtained no redress, he 
 turned his attention to another quarter, being compelled to 
 seek a protector where he could. He therefore made applica- 
 tion through his envoys to Willliam II (Rufus), king of Eng- 
 land, and promised the king the fealty of all his estates if he 
 would lend him assistance. The king was highly pleased at 
 the proposal, and promised aid adequate to his needs. Conse- 
 quently he gave orders to his retainers in Normandy that they 
 should render every assistance to Raoul, which they accord- 
 ingly did.^^ 
 
 Somewhat later in the Garin the independence of the barons 
 is even more pointedly set forth in brief concise form. The 
 family of Fromont planned to fall upon the Loherains in the 
 very court of the king, for, as the poet explains, "the king was 
 young, and not one whit did they fear him."^^ And the on- 
 slaught took place without the king's being able to prevent it. 
 
 Akin to this restive spirit of the feudal noble was his utter 
 lack of self-restraint, manifesting itself in uncontrolled fits of 
 wrath. The frequent resort to anger is an epic trait, common 
 to the Iliad and the Odyssey, and to the French feudal poetry. 
 But its depiction in the feudal poems is none the less a true 
 
 i^Ordericus, Lib. VIII, cap. XIV, a. 1090. Radulftts Rodhertum 
 ducem adivit, querelas damnorum, quae a contribulibus suis pertulerat, 
 intimavit, et herile adjutoriutn ab eo poposcit; sed frustra, quia nihil 
 obtinuit. Hinc alias conversus est, et utile sibi patrocinium quaerere 
 compulsus est. Regem Angliae per legates suos interpellavit, eique sua 
 infortunia mandavit, et si sibi suffragaretur, se et omnia sua promisif. 
 His auditis rex gamsus est, et efficax adminiculum indigenti pollicitus 
 est . . . tribunis et centurioniibus, qui praeerant in Normannia familiis 
 ejus, mandavit ut Radulfum totis adjuvarent nisibus, et oppida ejus 
 munirent necessariis omnibus. Illi autem regiis jussionibus alacriter 
 obsecundaverunt. 
 
 1' Garin, I, p. 129 : Li rois fu j'oenes, n'i ot point de raison. /Ne le 
 douterent vaillant un esperon. Cf. the scene in Aliscans 2894 ff,, when 
 Guillaume stands in the king's presence with drawn sword. 
 
 36 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 portrayal of the early medieval nobleman in France, prone as he 
 was to hot-headed, reckless action.^* The poem of Garin 
 especially (including the Mart Garin), perhaps because of its 
 nature more primitive than most of the feudal poetry, stands 
 distinctly apart in this respect from the other poems of the 
 feudal group. For the poem of Garin depends almost ex- 
 clusively upon crude scenes of sudden wrath to strengthen and 
 prolong the narrative. 
 
 According to the story, King Pepin had promised Blancheflor 
 in marriage to Garin. Fromont, whose family had been at feud 
 with the Loherains for many years, attempted to persuade the 
 king to change his decision, and to award to him the gift of the 
 lady's hand. At the first word, Garin went white-hot with rage, 
 but he choked his anger for the moment and made a soft voice 
 belie the deadly menace of his words : "My lord Fromont, so 
 help me God, if this morning when we two rode together 
 through the woods of Val-Dormant, you had merely said that 
 you found the lady to your liking, I would have given her to 
 you, and her fief besides. But now I see your treachery, so 
 that from me you will not have the amount of one single farth- 
 ing." Fromont reddened with fury at the insult, and they would 
 speedily have come to blows, except that the king parted them. 
 And this small beginning was enough to cause a feud lasting a 
 life-time, in which, as the poet says, "I know not how many 
 knights were slain, and castles and cities brought to naught, 
 and many were the children that were disinherited."^' 
 
 Again in the Garin a passage occurs which relates a similar 
 display of unbridled wrath when the day set for the marriage 
 finally arrived, and when Garin and Blancheflor stood before 
 the altar as the priest proclaimed the bans. Suddenly a monk 
 arose, and forbade the marriage on the basis of consanguinity.^* 
 
 i*Cf. Jusserand, J. J., Les Sports et Jeux d'exercice dans I'ancietme 
 France, Paris, igoi, pp. 33-3S- 
 
 15 Garin, I, pp. 124-126. 
 
 18 'Consanguinity was frequently invoked at that time as an excuse 
 ■for divorce, and for the prevention of marriage for political purposes. 
 For an instance of the sort cf. Chronica Albrici Monachi Trium Font- 
 ium, a. 1 1 16 {Monwmenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, XXIII, 
 821) : Cum Henricus rex Anglie quandam filiam siuan cuidam nobili 
 . . . vellet dare, idem Yvo matrimonium illud dissuadendo consanguin- 
 itatem in sexto gradu conputavit. 
 
 37 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 Whereupon Begon, the brother of Garin, sprang to his feet in 
 sudden anger and struck the monk to the ground. And when 
 the king, who did not relish this insult to his authority, ven- 
 tured to protest, Begon shouted angrily: "This is no monk, 
 he is a perjurer and liar ! By the body of Saint Martin, if I 
 get him outside this palace, I tell you solemnly that no man 
 on earth can assure him that I will not slay him."^^ And it 
 was some little while before Begon could be induced to desist, 
 for a time at least, from the immediate execution of his 
 purpose. 
 
 Still one other passage from the same poem shows the extent 
 of lawlessness to which such yielding to sudden passion often 
 led. Upon this occasion the king's messenger came to Fromont 
 with an unwelcome demand. Now in so far as anything was 
 held sacred in those times, a messenger, or envoy, was consid- 
 ered inviolable during his mission. But Fromont was dis- 
 pleased with the message, and grasping a knife he struck 
 at the envoy, and missing him, slew a young man who stood 
 near. Then Fromont reached for another knife and would 
 have made a second attempt had not the messenger escaped 
 by the aid of one of the other barons.^* 
 
 Nor is such reasonless anger lacking in the records of his- 
 tory. Ordericus relates in his account of the sack of Rome 
 by Robert Guiscard in 1084 that when the troops of Robert 
 entered Rome, they set fire to the city by the order of their 
 furious Duke.^" Again the same historian tells that when 
 William the Conqueror took Mantes in 1087, his men in their 
 fury set fire to the castle, which was consumed, together with 
 the churches and houses, and two nuns also perished in the 
 
 ^^ Garin, II, pp. 9-10. 
 
 18 Garin, I, pp. 213-214. Ci. fate of the messengers in the Qtcatre 
 Ftls Aymon, 245 ff. ; and 610 ff. Cf. also the treatment of the envoys 
 by Richard Coeur de Lion, infra, p. 39. The chess-board quarrels re- 
 lated in various feudal poems deserve mention as a traditional cause 
 of wars; cf. Quatre Fits Aymon, 1910 ff., and Chevalerie Ogier de 
 Danemarche, ed. Barrois, J., Paris, 1842, vv. 3155 ff. 
 
 "Ordericus, lib. VII, cap. VII, a. 1084: Deinde victor es, civibus mixti 
 fugienhbus, urbem intraverunt, jussuque fervidi ducis ignem tectis in- 
 jecerunt. 
 
 38 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 flames.^" In Guillaume le Marechal a story is told of Richard 
 Coeur de Lion, at the time when towards the end of his Hfe 
 he was waging war with the king of France/^ French envoys 
 arrived for a peace parley, and arrangements had practically 
 been completed for a five-year truce, when one of the envoys 
 ventured to request of Richard the release of the Bishop of 
 Beauvais, who had been taken prisoner a few days before. 
 Thereupon Richard became speechless with rage and broke off 
 the negotiations, and so great was his wrath that the French 
 considered themselves fortunate to escape with their lives. ^^ 
 
 An instance from Mouskes is so relevant and so true to the 
 period that it is not to be passed over without mention. Mouskes 
 began his chronicle with the mythological origin of France, and 
 continued it to the year 1243. The work is of little value until 
 the eleventh century, and even then it is not always trustworthy 
 in the minutiae of historical events. But Mouskes was par- 
 ticularly interested in the feudal period, and his account of 
 that epoch is of the highest value in that it portrays incidents 
 in accordance with feudal custom. So the spirit of the fol- 
 lowing episode may be taken as characteristic, whether or not 
 it occurred exactly as the historian relates it. William the 
 Conqueror, he says,^^ at this time Duke of Normandy {ca. 
 1054), requested Count Bauduin of Flanders for the hand of 
 his daughter, whereat the Count was highly pleased, and gave 
 his consent. But when she was informed of the match by her 
 father, she declared that she preferred the seclusion of a 
 convent to marriage with a bastard. The Count, her father, 
 of course was angry, but not so enraged as was Duke William 
 when the matter was recounted to him. The Duke went forth- 
 with into the lady's presence, and kicked and beat her wellnigh 
 to death. Now the remarkable fact is that the father was not 
 
 ^0 Ibid., lib. VII, cap. XIV, a. 1087: Irruens itague exercitus regis 
 cum oppidanis portas pertransivit, et per rabiem armigerorum immisso 
 igne castrum cum ecclesiis et aedibus combussit. Cf. also note of 
 editor. 
 
 21 Anno 1 199, the year in which Richard died. 
 
 ^^ Guillaume le Marechal, iiS76ff. 
 
 "•^Mouskes, 16900 fif. 
 
 39 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 offended, nor is Mouskes conscious of anything out of the 
 ordinary. Quite the contrary is true, for in the next breath 
 Mouskes continues: 
 
 Cis Guillaumes fu moult preudom 
 Del commencement jusqu'a[l] som.^* 
 
 Such a burst of anger was not so uncommon as to excite 
 attention. The final word is said when the lady declares that 
 she would now truly like to marry the Duke, for until he beat 
 her she had not realized what a valiant man he was !^° 
 
 The poetry, too, reflects this brutality as exhibited even to- 
 wards women ; in Garin le Loherain a scene similar to the pre- 
 ceding ensued when the queen rebuked the king because he had 
 deserted his friends for the sake of a paltry bribe. Whereupon 
 the king became very petulant, and raising his glove, struck 
 her across the face.''" 
 
 Such scenes both in history and poetry are frequent, but the 
 case is not always one of untempered savagery; it was rather 
 that the man was governed by impulse, without the interven- 
 tion of sane consideration or consciousness of any law until 
 after the deed was done. Decribing a scene like the above in 
 Auberi le Bourgoing, when Auberi had struck his daughter-in- 
 law so fiercely that the blood flowed down, the poet adds that 
 a few seconds later Auberi was grieved within his heart for 
 having struck her.^^ 
 
 Quick to anger the feudal noble certainly was, and brutal in 
 the manifestation of his wrath. But the same impulsiveness 
 that was at the bottom of such displays of temper resulted in a 
 repentance that sometimes followed fast upon the misdeed. 
 This has been partially exemplified by the preceding incident 
 from the Auberi, and is very clearly illustrated by the Raoul de 
 
 ^*Ibid., 16992-3. 
 
 25/feid.^ 17328 ff: J'el prendroie ore, s'il voloif, /Quar jou sai hien 
 que moult valoit /Li dus, ki (aiens me vint batre. 
 
 ^^Mort Garin, p. 103. Cf. Mouskes, a. 1150 ca., w. 16682-87: 
 Guillaumes Talevas [younger son of Guillaume de Belleme] fu preus 
 /Mais trap estoit fel et crueus, /Quar il fist, d I aviesprer, /Heude- 
 bours, sa fame, estranler, JPour (ou qu'ele li reprouvoit /Les cruautis 
 que il faisoit. 
 
 ^''Auberi, ed. Tarbe, p. 66. 
 
 40 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 Cambrai. In the latter poem it is related that when Raoul dis- 
 covered that his men had disobeyed his command to pitch his 
 tent in the court of the convent of Origny, Raoul was bitterly 
 incensed at his retainers and broke into a tirade of violent 
 threats. Then Guerri, Raoul's uncle, answered somewhat im- 
 patiently, setting forth in sharp manner the good reasons why 
 Raoul's instructions had not been followed. And Raoul, his 
 wrath vanishing as quickly as it had burst out, replied : "Have 
 it as you say ; leave it so since you wish it."^* 
 
 The most pertinent instance, showing at once the extremes 
 of wrath and repentance, is to be found in another passage of 
 the same poem. It was when Raoul, having burned the convent, 
 boasted how utterly he intended to crush the sons of Herbert, 
 the kinsmen of his esquire Bernier. Bernier ventured to say a 
 word in their behalf, and when Raoul heard him he began to 
 curse Bernier roundly and to accuse him of treason,^' and 
 ended with the taunt: "Save for contempt of you I would 
 strike off all your limbs. Who is it that keeps me from crush- 
 ing you on the spot l"^" And Bernier replied hotly : "Though 
 I see you so insolent, you would not dare strike me for any 
 consideration!" Then Raoul strode up to Bernier and dealt 
 him such a blow that the blood flowed down and stained his 
 ermine cloak.^^ 
 
 Bernier, of course, was insanely enraged, and renounced his 
 allegiance to Raoul. And at once Raoul regretted his deed. 
 So "he knelt down, and by reason of his great love he spoke 
 eloquently: 'Bernier, harden not thyself against me. Wilt 
 thou not take a fair amend ? Not that I fear at all thy anger, 
 but that I would be thy friend.' " In all humility Raoul pleads, 
 "Bernier, my brother, thy valor is not questioned; grant me 
 peace, and put aside thy ill-feeling."^^ 
 
 ^^ Raoul de Cambrai, 1262-1284. Cf. the account of a similar fit of 
 rage related by Ordericus of William Rufus, and his sudden calming 
 at the well-chosen words of the barons of his retinue: Ordericus, lib. 
 VIII, cap. II, a. 1088: His auditis rex iratus est, et vaide rigidui 
 intumuit, etc. 
 
 ^^ Raoul de Cambrai, 1652-1656. 
 
 ^°Ibid., 1700-1702. 
 
 ^'^ Ibid., 1710-1718. 
 
 ^^Ibid., 1756-1762, and 1780-1782. 
 
 41 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 Although the feudal noble was cruel and relentless when in 
 the position of advantage, and was recklessly brave in the 
 heat of battle, it is shown in the poetry that he did not maintain 
 a heroic level. The depiction of the weaker side of strong men 
 distinguishes the French feudal poetry from the Greek epic, 
 and that fact offers further evidence of the faithfulness of the 
 portrayal of life in the feudal poems. In the Raoul de Cambrai 
 occurs a notable example of the reversal of character on the 
 part of a brave warrior. It is in the description of the great 
 battle between Raoul and the sons of Herbert, when Ernaut of 
 Douai, after fighting valiantly against Raoul, lost his hand by a 
 sword-stroke. At once his vaunted bravery melted away and 
 the weakness of the man contrasted with his hitherto valorous 
 conduct, and he begged piteously for his life : "Mercy, Raoul, 
 for God's sake have pity! If you are angered for that I have 
 smitten you, I will be your man in whatsoever fashion you 
 will. Have pity, Raoul, if it be in you ! I am a young man and 
 wish not to die yet. I will be a monk — ^willingly will I serve 
 God. All my fiefs I give to you to hold."^' 
 
 In the Auberi, a poem rich in descriptive material, and less 
 limited than is usual by the convention of verse, is a well- 
 developed instance of this character trait. The story goes that 
 the robber Lambert in friendly manner had induced Auberi 
 to visit him, but with the treacherous intent of forcing Auberi 
 to bestow upon him in marriage Sonneheut, Auberi's daughter- 
 in-law. Lambert set about accomplishing his purpose by first 
 getting Auberi royally drunk, and when he had reached an 
 unconscious state Lambert put him to bed in the same room 
 with his (Lambert's) niece. In the morning Lambert awak- 
 ened his guest with a savage blow, and accusing him of having 
 violated his niece, threatened to kill him. When Auberi heard 
 him, the color left his face and he was afraid, and his words 
 came in broken speech. Vainly did he deny the charge; 
 
 ^^Ibid., 2880-2884, and 3011-3014: Merci! R., por Dieu qi tot cria. 
 /Vos horn serai ensi con vos plaira. /Qite vos clain tot Braibant et 
 Hainau, /Qe ja mes oirs demi pii n'en tendra . . . /Merci! R., se le 
 poez soufrir. /Jovenes horn sui, ne vuel encor morir. /Moines serai, si 
 volrai Dieu servir. /Cuites te claim mes onnors a tenir. 
 
 42 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 Lambert only threatened the more, and brandished his naked 
 sword, making pretense of striking Auberi. And Auberi, for 
 the fear of death that he had, promised to give Sonneheut to 
 Lambert, and swore this on the sacred rehcs.'* This act of 
 cowardice, so utterly contemptible from the modern point of 
 view, does not receive any condemnation in the poem. There 
 is no intimation of any consciousness on the part of the poet 
 that Auberi had failed to maintain his honor. 
 
 The absence of the conception of honor as it exists today is 
 not peculiar to this one poem. It is equally true of the whole 
 feudal group, especially of those reflecting the customs of 
 feudalism in its earliest stages. The word honor is to be found 
 of course in the poetry, but there was no jot of the modern con- 
 ception of the term attaching to honor at that time, and the 
 sentiment itself can scarcely be said to have existed. Of the 
 meanings denoted by the word in feudal society, the first and 
 most frequent is that of an office or the fief attaching thereto. 
 In addition, certain abstract connotations of the word existed. 
 In the Qiiatre Fits Aymon, for example, honor denotes glory, 
 renown, respect.^^ Various other words and phrases in certain 
 contexts admit the translation honor in the modern sense of 
 moral and ethical obligation, but at closer view such instances 
 invariably resolve into a more material consideration.** 
 
 If any idea whatsoever existed of honor as in the best 
 usage of the present day, it was as regards those customs of 
 
 ^* Auberi, ed. Tarbe, pp. 80-83. That submission to superior strength 
 was not condemned is evidenced by the following lines from the 
 Aliscans, vv. 626-7: Se plus demeure por fol se puet tenir, /Quant 
 por un cop en va requellir cinq, etc. 
 
 85 Cf. Quatre Fits Aymon, 1 1 18: Mais voist en arvanture pour honor 
 conquiester. And ibid., 6831-2: Miex vaut mors a honor que vivre a 
 deshonor. Qui en fuiant morra, ja n'ait s'ame pardon. Also Mort 
 Garin, p. 29. Cf. also Quatre Fits Aymon, v. 466, and Guillaume le 
 marechal, 2089 and 2052. 
 
 38 Faites le bien is a case of the sort : the phrase means merely do the 
 advantageous thing, or sometimes, do what is customary : cf. Mort 
 Garin, p. 73, v. 4; Garin, I, p. 61, v. 7; I, p. 89, v. 11 ; I, p. 218, v. i ; II, 
 p. 182, V. II. Probably nothing more than valor in war is meant by the 
 pompous declaration: Onques nostre linages ne fist jor se bien non. 
 (Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins, LXVII, Stuttgart, 1862, Renaut 
 de Montauban, ed. Michelant, p. 182, v. 5.) 
 
 43 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 procedure involved in the feudal relation of homme-to-seigneur, 
 and vice versa. This relationship is discussed in detail in the 
 subsequent chapters, and there is to be mentioned at present 
 only a single historical example illustrating from the point of 
 view of character analysis the possible obligations of the 
 relationship.'^ 
 
 In the year 1118, Henry I of England was requested by 
 Eustace de Breteuil to restore to him the castle of Ivry, which 
 had belonged to his predecessors. Henry temporized, but in 
 order to keep Eustace's allegiance gave to him as hostage the 
 son of Ralph-Harenc who had the custody of the fortress ; and 
 in turn Henry took as hostages the two daughters of Eustace, 
 who were his own grand-daughters. Eustace, excited by 
 Amauri de Montfort, who strove to renew the quarrel, put out 
 the boy's eyes, and in that condition sent him back to his 
 father. Upon this the father went to the king in a rage, and 
 made known to him the cruel treatment his son had received. 
 Henry then delivered up his two grand-daughters whom he 
 held in hostage of Eustace, that the father might immediately 
 wreak his vengeance upon them. Accordingly, Ralph-Harenc, 
 with the permission of the king, seized Eustace's daughters, 
 and tore out their eyes and cut off the tips of their noses, in 
 retaliation for the cruelty inflicted upon his son by their 
 father.'* 
 
 As might be inferred from the absence of all idea of honor, 
 the religious tendencies of the feudal noble reached no very 
 high stage of development. True conscientious appreciation 
 
 2^ An idea of honor inhered partially in customs concerning the 
 conduct of war. Thus at times safe-conduct would seem sacred; cf. 
 Garin, I, p. 69: Buegons apHe le vassal Amauri /Dites Richard 
 viigne parler & mi. III n'aura garde, loiaument li affi. And Richard 
 comes without fear of his enemy, and departs in safety. But such 
 was not always the case : cf. the death of Beuves d'Aigremont iQuatre 
 Fits Aymon), and in the same poem, 'Charlemagne's plot against the 
 four sons of Aymon. At best it was a question of the observance of 
 custom rather than scrupulous conduct. 
 
 ssOrdericus, lib. XII, cap. X, a. 11 19: In eodem anno, Eustachius de 
 Britolio, gener regis, crebro commonitus fuit a contribulibus et con- 
 sanguineis ut a rege recederet, nisi ipse turrim Ibreii, quae anteces- 
 sorum, ejus fuerat, ei redderet, etc. 
 
 44 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 of religious principles was foreign to the age; its place was 
 usurped by formality and superstition.^^ 
 
 The formal nature of the influence of the Church is well 
 illustrated by an episode from the Raoul de Cambrai. Raoul 
 had just burned the convent of Origny, where a hundred nuns 
 perished in the conflagration. His retinue had made no pro- 
 test, excepting Bemier, whose mother was one of those that 
 suffered death as a consequence of Raoul's barbarity. But 
 when at the close of the day Raoul ordered a sumptuous feast 
 to be prepared — roasted peacocks, peppered swans, and ven- 
 ison in rich abundance — the steward felt constrained to re- 
 buke his master : 
 
 "In God's name, what outrage do you intend? You are 
 forswearing Christianity and its sacraments ! It is Lent, when 
 one ought to fast in memory of the sacred covenant for which 
 sinners adore the cross. And we wretches who have sinned 
 today will never find peace with God unless his compassion 
 overcomes our impiety." And Raoul replied: "Fool, why 
 speak to me of that? This day's deed was but a consequence 
 of the ill treatment the people of Origny committed against 
 my esquires, and they have rightly paid the penalty. But in- 
 deed, I had forgotten it was Lent."*" Thus Raoul, defending 
 himself on the score of massacring a hundred nuns, admitted 
 that he was at fault in that he had not observed the formalities 
 of a Lenten day. 
 
 Aside from this perfunctory consideration of Church iorm- 
 
 39 A story such as that told of Henry IV, Emperor of Germany, is 
 typical of the feeble hold of the Church upon the more powerful 
 nobles. Ordericus (lib. VII, cap. IV, a. 1081) relates that Henry, 
 having been excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII, laid siege to 
 Rome, and: Inquirentibus vera, cur tarn horrenda contra caput Eccle- 
 siae praesumpserat, hanc tantae discordiae causam inter se et Papam 
 esse, cum cachinno asserehat, quod medicus aegrotum nimis acriter 
 curare impotientem nisus fuerat. In similar nature, the chronicle of 
 Ordericus contains examples of the high value attached to relics, and 
 the unscrupulous means employed for obtaining things deemed so holy. 
 Cf. the story of the method used to obtain relics: lib. VII, cap. xii, a. 
 1087: Volumus hinc sanctum corpus tollere, nostramque ad patriam 
 transportare, etc. 
 
 *" Raoul de Cambrai, 1560-1582. The formality and the thinness of 
 the veneer of religion is exemplified by the account of Foulques 
 d'Anjou, in Raoul Glaber, Libri Quinque, lib. II, cap. iv. 
 
 4S 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 alities, a second phase of religion that prevailed widely in the 
 Middle Ages was superstition.*^ The most common form of 
 superstition is premonition, an anticipation or warning in some 
 fashion or other, of events in the future. The Garin yields a 
 pertinent example. The family of the Loherains were at peace 
 for a brief space between the ever-recurring feuds. Garin is 
 depicted in conversation with his wife: "May Saint Mary 
 guard me and all my friends," said Garin. "My heart fails 
 me, I am altogether bewildered. It seems that the heavens 
 should thunder. Shield me, O God, from evil." "Good sir," 
 said the lady Aelis, "make the sign of the cross upon your face 
 that naught evil may come upon you." And Garin replied, "So 
 be it, lady." And he raised his hand to cross himself. And at 
 that moment there appeared in the distance horsemen ap- 
 proaching slowly. And when they were come near, they dis- 
 mounted, and Garin saw that they bore the dead body of Begon, 
 his brother, than whom he loved no one more dearly.*^ 
 
 The clearest expression of this intermingling of religion and 
 superstition in the poetry is the first half of the Raoul de 
 Cambrai, comprising the whole story of the life of Raoul. The 
 recitation is an echo of the doctrine of the ever-present hand 
 of God in the life of men, but in its actual form was far more 
 a matter of superstition than of religion. The first three 
 thousand lines of this poem, relating the downfall of Raoul, 
 may be divided into three parts, each representing a distinct 
 step forward in the ill-fated career of Raoul. 
 
 The first of these stages in the narration is reached at the 
 point when Raoul was preparing to invade the Vermandois. 
 
 *iThe question of magic deserves mention apropos of superstition. 
 Maugis the Robber, which is a minor theme of the Quatre Fils Aymon, 
 is the best instance from the poetry. Cf. in Mouskes the legend of 
 Gerbert's transaction with the devil, told in good faith as history. De 
 Reiffenberg's note to the passage is pertinent : Chronique rimee, iS442ff. 
 Also the story of Berengarius, in Chronica Albrici Monathi Trium 
 Fontium, in MGH, SS, XXIII, p. 789, line 25 ff . The credulity of the 
 age is most shown in Raoul Glaber : cf. the story of St. Brendan in- 
 corporated into his history, Libri Quinque, lib. II, cap. n. 
 
 *2 Garin, II, p. 261. Cf. the instance of premonition by a dream in 
 Ordericus, lib. VIII, cap. xiv, a. 1090 : Nuper vidi somnium, quo valde 
 territus sum, etc. Cf. the story of Wlferius, Raoul Glaber, Libri Quin- 
 que, lib. II cap. IX. 
 
 46 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 His mother, after having tried in vain to dissuade him, said : 
 "Since for my sake you will not abandon your plan, may 
 almighty God never bring you back safe nor sound nor well !" 
 And by reason of this curse, the poet adds, Raoul suffered 
 such affliction, that he lost his life thereby.*^ 
 
 The next period culminates in Raoul's command to his 
 retinue: "Barons, set fire to the village of Origny** — an act 
 of impiety that was the first consequence of the mother's curse. 
 
 The final stage in Raoul's undoing came when Raoul blas- 
 phemed God and his saints. It was when he had conquered 
 Emaut in battle, and Emaut begged that his life be spared. 
 Raoul then denied him mercy, with the oath "Neither earth 
 nor grass can save you, nor God nor man can aid you, nor all 
 the saints who serve God !"*^ That oath sealed his fate, for by 
 it he denied God. And Ernaut was conscious of the import of 
 the moment, for he raised his head, and courage came back to 
 him, and he defied Raoul fearlessly, because Raoul had re- 
 nounced God and his compassion.** And with that Bernier 
 came up and engaged Raoul, and slew him. 
 
 Ill 
 
 In subsequent chapters of this study is discussed the social 
 and political status of the feudal noble. In the present survey 
 of the feudal noble as an individual, only those factors are to 
 be considered which determined in the case of each baron 
 just how high he should stand in the hierarchic society of his 
 day. And it was a single element that settled inevitably the 
 position of every noble. This element was superior strength 
 in one or another of its phases : not only physical strength of 
 the individual, but, of far greater importance, the military 
 strength of his fiefs, and of those of his kin. 
 
 The importance of strength of body enters into many of 
 the examples that have been adduced in another connection. 
 
 ^^ Raoul de Cambrai, 1131-113S. 
 **Ibid., 1553. 
 
 ^^ Ibid., 3017-19: For form of oath incident to earth and grass, cf. 
 infra, chap. IV, p. 64, note 28. 
 "/Wd., 3015-3031- 
 
 47 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 The successful man in the feudal regime was the one who, as 
 the poet of Raoul de Cambrai says of Bernier, "was large and 
 powerful when he attained the age of manhood,"*' that he 
 might without fear stand before a great warrior, as Bernier 
 did before Raoul, and say : "You dare not strike me !"*^ Or 
 as Garin said to another noble in the king's court, "You have 
 lied, sir! In the whole of France there is not a man so re- 
 doubtable that if he insulted me I would not make him take 
 back his words ere noonday."*" 
 
 Of greatest importance as a factor in the position of the 
 feudal man was the strength represented in the number and 
 greatness of his kinsmen; upon them he relied with even 
 greater assurance than upon even his liege-men. Witness the 
 summons of Begon when he was hard-pressed by his enemies : 
 "Tell my brother, Garin the Loherain, that he aid me, and give 
 my thanks to him; also go to Thieri who is my uncle and so 
 ought not to fail me ; nor forget Girard de Liege, and Gamier, 
 and Hugo of Cambrai. And return by way of Ouri the Ger- 
 man, and Auberi le Bourgoing. And tell my sister to send me 
 her son and her nephews."^'' And when this family array 
 masses its armies, they make hill and valley resound, and from 
 all sides their columns guard every approach by road.^^ 
 
 The far-reaching bond of kinship was an asset of political 
 value. In the Garin is related how the Bishop Henry of Reims 
 availed himself of such an argument in order to dissuade the 
 king from his purpose of giving the lady Blancheflor to 
 Garin: "If Garin has her," said the bishop, "you will see 
 France shamed, for never will Fromont serve you nor will his 
 
 *' Ibid., 382. 
 
 *^Ibid., 171 1. 
 
 *' Garin, II, p. 25. The essential nature of the physical element is 
 evident in the descriptions given by poets and historians of the great 
 feudal barons : cf . La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, 6065 ff ; Alis- 
 cans, 2740 ff ; Auberi, ed. Tobler, p. 28 ; Guillaume le Marechal, 1800 ff ; 
 Ordericus, lib. VIII, cap. v, a. 1088, Erat . . corpore magnus et for- 
 tis, audax et potens in armis . . . etc. ; ibid., lib. VIII, cap. v, a. 1088, 
 Goisfredus . . . erat corpore pulcher et validus . . etc. 
 
 50 Garin, II, p. 102. 
 
 ^''■Mort Garin, pp. 25-26: cf. ibid., p. 9, and p. 30; also Garin, II, 
 p. 127. 
 
 48 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 powerful family {mervUlous lin). And war will never come 
 to an end."=^ 
 
 With the exception of the tie between lord and man result- 
 ing from land consideration, this blood-relationship was the 
 strongest reason for the mutual support of men at this time 
 when discord rather than order was the rule. T^he instruction 
 given by the queen to a newly dubbed knight expresses at any 
 rate the accepted conception of the noble class: Love your 
 kinsmen, hate your enemies}^ In the Mort Garin, when 
 Auberi's faithfulness to his kin is questioned, he cries indig- 
 nantly : "Think you, if ever mine own friends bound to me by 
 ties of blood come in need to me, that I will depy them my 
 bread and wine, or my castles and my cities ?"°* When Garin 
 issues desfiance for himself, he includes his friends in the same 
 breath :''° "Henceforth you are defied of me; guard yourself 
 from all my kin !"^* 
 
 How compelling was the obligation involved in kinship is 
 most pointedly set forth in the following final example. In 
 this passage, too, is evident something of the inner nature of 
 the tie resultant from blood-relationship. For it was not 
 necessarily a natural affection for one's family that was at the 
 base of the alliance, but sometimes, as in the following instance, 
 it was merely an inevitable obligation met because neither 
 party dared, by refusing the other assistance, deny himself 
 the same aid that would be rendered him in like need. In 
 brief, the bond was one of political necessity. As the story 
 
 ^^ Garin, II, pp. 1-2: Ne ses parages nS son mervUlous lin: variant 
 of MS. St. Germ. 2041, Garin, II, 2, note i. Cf. Mouskes, 16902-4: 
 Duke William of Normandy plans to marry (a. 1154 ca); Lors se 
 volt li diis marier, /Pour ses amis emparenier, /Et pour soi mesmes 
 enf order. And in GuUlaume le Marechal, 2259, it is related that the 
 young king ceased to fight when he had no boen ami charnel. Cf. also 
 Ordericus, lib. VII, cap. x, a. 1083 : Erat enim nobilitate clarus, etc. 
 Also ibid., lib. VIII, cap. ix, a. 1089: Tunc Rodbertus dux contra tot 
 hostes repagulum paravit, filiamque suam, quam de pellice habuerat 
 . . . conjugem dedit . . . etc. Cf. supra, p. 32, note 6, emphasis upon 
 kinship. 
 
 ^3 Mort Garin, p. 84 : Ames les vos, haes vos anemis. 
 
 ^* Ibid., pp. 79-80. 
 
 ^^ For the connotation of desfiance, cf . infra, chap, v, p. 89. 
 
 ^'^ Mort Garin, p. 14. 
 
 49 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 runs in the Garin, a certain Droes, fearing the enmity of 
 Garin, and desiring to attach to himself a strong ally, married 
 the sister of Bauduin. Bauduin consented, unaware of the 
 hostility of Garin against Droes. And when, after the marriage, 
 Bauduin learned the truth he had great fear, and for a space 
 he was silent. Then he grew red with rage, and said : "Droes 
 d'Amiens, you have deceived me. If you had told me before 
 this, the marriage would never have taken place. But I know 
 well that blood cannot be false, for he who cuts off his nose 
 spares not his face. Wherefore it befits me to endure great 
 pain, and together with you to maintain the war against 
 Garin."" 
 
 The composite features given in the preceding pages are the 
 result of an attempt to set forth the salient traits of character 
 of a nobleman living in Northern France in the course of the 
 eleventh and twelfth centuries. The effort has not been to give 
 a classification of separate items in list form, but to make an 
 analysis of a few typical traits that form a basis for the inter- 
 pretation of the character of the feudal baron. This man was 
 marked by the ease with which his cruder passions found ex- 
 pression, and by his lack of the finer qualities, those of honor 
 and religious scruple. It has been shown that he was the 
 natural product of the institution of feudalism, and his inner 
 qualities are no less explained by feudalism than the course of 
 feudalism was determined by the nature of the man. That he 
 was not Christian in action is obvious; Feudalism, in contrast 
 with Chivalry, was of non-Christian origin. It has been ob- 
 served during this discussion how the intimate traits of this 
 feudal noble are to be traced only through the interpretation of 
 his acts as recorded in historical sources and in the feudal 
 poetry. The histories fail unaided to delineate sharply personal 
 characteristics. They serve, however, to confirm the more 
 
 ^'' Garin, I, p. i6o: Li Flaviens (Bauduins) I'oit, tout en fut eshahis, 
 /Une grant piece ala que mot ne dist. /Com il parole, de mautalent 
 rougit: /Droes d'Amiens, dist-il, tu m'as trai: /Se autretant voire 
 m'eusses dit/ . . . Li mariages ne pout avenir. /Mais je sais Men que 
 cuer ne puet mentir, /Qui son ne coupe il deserte son vis. jAins me 
 convient les grans poines sofrir: /Ensanble o vous la guerre maintenir. 
 
 SO 
 
TRAITS OF THE FEUDAL BARON 
 
 general descriptions of the poetry. And the comparison of the 
 two, history and poetry, reveals with precision that whereas 
 the poetry is of little or no value as a source of events in the 
 nature of annals, the poetry is of higher value than even the 
 chronicles and other strictly historical works of the period, as 
 a reliable source for the analysis of character. 
 
 SI 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 PRIMITIVE PHASES OF THE HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR 
 
 RELATION IN HISTORY AND IN FEUDAL 
 
 FRENCH POETRY 
 
 I 
 
 Toward the end of the fifth century, with the weakening of 
 the Roman military power in Gaul, there came a resistless 
 advance of the Germanic Barbarians from beyond the Rhine. 
 These peoples moved in great surges that extended gradually 
 over the rich cultivated land of Gaul. There was no one 
 decisive battle; there was no considerable opposition to the 
 successive migrations. The Roman element in Gaul had been 
 softened by generations of easy, indulgent life, and succumbed 
 inevitably to the war-hardened men of the North. 
 
 In 486, Syagrius, the last of the Roman governors in Gaul, 
 fled before Chlodowig, or Clovis, chief of the Salian Franks, 
 the most formidable of all the Barbarians.^ Clovis, on succeed- 
 ing his father Childeric as chieftain or king of the tribe, had 
 taken over an army of only some three thousand warriors.^ 
 But the fame of his exploits, his success in war, drew many 
 more fighting men to share in the spoils of victory. Thus it 
 came about that he extended his authority until, at the be- 
 ginning of the sixth century, he was recognized as king of all 
 
 iPor an excellent account of this period, cf. C. Oman, The Dark 
 Ages, London, 1901, pp. 55 ff. Cf. also G. F. Young, East and West 
 through Fifteen Centuries, London and New York, 1916, II, pp. 153-6. 
 Also excellent for the period of the Prankish invasion is Western 
 Europe in the Fifth Century, E. A. Freeman, London and New York, 
 1904 ; cf . especially chap. IV, pp. 130-171, The Barbarian Invaders, and 
 chap. VIII, pp. 288-30S, Chlodowig the Frank. 
 
 Histoire de France, II, partie I, chap, iv, pp. 94-8, Paris 1903). 
 
 52 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 the Franks; and the sovereignty of the Merovingians, who 
 continued to rule for nearly three centuries in France, was at 
 length established. 
 
 The Barbarians, when they made their inroads into France, 
 were a loose confederation of tribes or patriarchal communi- 
 ties, each under a distinctive leader whose authority was abso- 
 lute within the limits of his own tribal group.' Service under 
 a chieftain was voluntary, the incentive being the booty that 
 was divided equally among the members ; and the obligation in- 
 curred by membership was embodied in the oath of fidelity 
 which each warrior took before the head of the tribe, whence 
 the name fideles, applied to the members of the band.* In view 
 of this oath, the individual warrior was bound to serve his 
 master and lord with life and limb, to be feal and leal to him 
 to the uttermost. In return, by way of sealing this mutual 
 bond, the leader made the new warrior a present of either horse 
 or armor. The compact thus formed was not necessarily life- 
 long; the individual was at liberty to quit the service of the 
 tribal chief, with the sole stipulation that he return the gift 
 he had received upon admittance to the band.° 
 
 The fideles in the service of the king were specially priv- 
 ileged, and their services were of a more exacting nature. 
 These men, antrustions, as they were called when in the service 
 of the king, were bound by a like oath of fidelity, in the same 
 manner as the fideles who served minor chieftains were sworn 
 in allegiance to them. In similar fashion to the latter men, the 
 king's antrustions were liable to military service, both in de- 
 fense of his domain, and in any expeditions he might under- 
 take. But in addition to this service, the king's antrustions 
 
 3 C. Bayet, Le monde germonique d, la fin du IV' siicle (Lavisse, 
 Histoire de France, II, partie I, chap. II, pp. 43-8). 
 
 * The nature of this oath is indicated in the first century by Tacitus, 
 Germania, XIV, ed. C. Halm, Leipzig, 1886: Cum ventum in aciem, 
 turpe principi virtute vinci, turpe comitatui virtutem principis non adae- 
 quare. lam vero infame in omnem vita ac prohrosum superstitem prin- 
 cipi suo ex acie recessisse : ilium defender e, tueri, sua quoque fortia 
 facta gloriae eius adsignare praecipium sacramentum est: principes pro 
 victoria pugnant, comites pro principi. 
 
 ^ Cf. Brunner, a legal historian of the first rank, Deutsche Rechts- 
 geschichte, II, pp. 98, and 258-9, Leipzig, i9g2; vol. I, 2d ed. 1906. 
 
 S3 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 fulfilled various offices incident to the royal household, and 
 were also employed as missi regis, i.e., representatives of the 
 king entrusted with matters of civil and criminal procedure 
 throughout the realm, notably with the duties of ambassador, 
 and inspector of conditions in distant districts.* The exact 
 extent of their privileges cannot be determined,' but the dis- 
 tinction accorded to them is evidenced by the fact that the 
 murder indemnity, or Wergild, exacted for the death of any of 
 their group was triple the amount demanded in the case of an 
 ordinary Frank.^ 
 
 II 
 
 A still more important recognition of the character of the 
 antrustions is to be found in the benefice, which owes its first 
 development to the exigencies arising out of the status of this 
 privileged class. 
 
 A gradual change, far-reaching in result, had been infiltrated 
 into the life of these Germanic tribes as a consequence of their 
 definitive establishment in France. Prior to the occupation of 
 Gaul the Franks had been a nomadic people, securing a liveli- 
 hood in the pursuits of hunting and warfare. They came into 
 France without any experience of the value of land in itself. 
 Once settled there, they were confronted by a totally new and 
 different state of affairs : their previous occupations in warfare 
 
 8 Ihid., pp. cited supra. 
 
 '' The Salic law provided that an antrustion need not testify against 
 a fellow antrustion. Lex Salica, ed. Holder, Leipzig, 1880, p. 80, tit. 
 LXXVI, sec. 3 : Si antrussio contra antrussionem testimonium iurauerit, 
 sol. XV. culpabi. iudicetur. Towards the end of the Merovingian dyn- 
 asty, the antrustions had become a privileged class of landowners: cf. 
 Brunner, Rechtsgeschichte, II, pp. 258 ff. 
 
 8 Of real import in this connection is the formula for the acceptance, 
 by the king, of an antrustion in the seventh century, which is as fol- 
 lows : Rectum est ut qui nobis fidem pollicentur inlesam nostrum 
 tueantur auxilio. Et quia ille fidelis, Deo propitio, noster, veniens ibi 
 in palatio nostro una cum arma sua, in manu nostra trustem et fidelitct- 
 tem nobis visus est coniurasse, propterea per praesentem praeceptum 
 decernimus ac iubemus ut deinceps m,emoratus ille inter numero an- 
 trustionorum conputetur. Et si quis fortasse eum interficere praesump- 
 serit, noverit se virgildo suo solidis DC esse culpabilem indicetur. E. de 
 Roziere, Recueil des Formules du V au X' siicle, I, p. 3, no. VIII, 
 Paris, 1859. 
 
 54 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 and as hunters were not by themselves a sufficient means of 
 existence. The king no longer had at his disposal the spoils 
 of war to divide among his followers as a means of assuring 
 their faithfulness to himself. Since no taxes were levied,* the 
 sole wealth of the crown lay in the territory acquired. And it 
 was in the distribution of this land that the reward of service 
 must be found. 
 
 As a result of these increasingly prevalent conditions, the 
 king's gift of horse or armor to his cmtrustions was replaced 
 by grants of tracts of land, known as benefices, in return for 
 which his servants might support and equip themselves for 
 service entailed in warfare. At the first, these benefices were 
 intended to be revocable at the will of the king: they were 
 not stipulated for more than the life-time of the holder. How- 
 ever, the antrustion holding a benefice found himself immedi- 
 ately more vitally involved in the welfare of his lord than be- 
 fore the advent of this institution. He still had, indeed, the 
 right to forego the king's service, but he was required to make 
 formal request for release therefrom — an appeal, nevertheless, 
 that the king was expected to meet with favor. In such cases, 
 the antrustion surrendered the benefice, just as under former 
 conditions he had given back the armor received as a gift from 
 his chieftain. The beneficiaries also acknowledged a more spe- 
 cific jurisdiction of the king. They could not, without the royal 
 permission, change from the state of laic to that of cleric,^" 
 nor contract marriage, either for themselves or for their 
 children.^^ 
 
 8 Under the Merovingian kings the system of taxation established by 
 the Romans gradually fell into disuse. Cf. Pfister, Gaul under the 
 Merovingian Franks. Institutions. {Cambridge Medieval History, II, 
 chap. V, p. 139, ed. H. M. Gwatkin and J. P. Whitney, New York, 
 
 1913.) 
 
 1" Ca. 627. Cf . Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, ed. 
 Bouquet, III, VI, 562: Et quia praefatus vir Domini in ejus aula 
 nutritus, et suis fuerat olim ministeriis adscitus, nitebatur ei consultu 
 suorum molestiam inferre, pro eo quod sine ejus pertmssu habitum mu- 
 tasset, ac monasticae se Religioni mancipasset. 
 
 ^^ For stipulations as to marriage ca. 622, cf . ibid., 606, n. 9, Ex vita 
 S. Salabergae : Metuens autem praefatus Gundo'inus ne ob filiam irom 
 Regis saevitiam incurreret, earn d, calle, quo ire sponte decreverat, 
 pedetentim retraxit . . . Max praedictam Salabergam non ejus sponte 
 
 55 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 In this epoch during which the man became more subject 
 to the king, there was a tendency on the part of the ruler to 
 refrain from arbitrarily withdrawing the benefice from the 
 man who held of him. The trend in this direction is first indi- 
 cated by the Thirty Year Provision, granted by Chlotaire I in 
 the year 560, whereby the king agreed not to withdraw any 
 estate that had been held by one man for thirty years.^^ This 
 movement to strengthen the rights of the proprietor was con- 
 firmed in the Treaty of Andelys in 587/^ and again by the 
 Ordinance of Paris in 614.^* 
 
 As soon as it was definitely understood that the benefice was 
 tenable for life, there naturally followed an effort on the part 
 of the beneficiary to render his holding hereditary. This was 
 gradually brought about, in one or another of four ways. i. A 
 custom arose by which a beneficiary during his lifetime sought 
 to assure to his heir the unbroken tenure of the paternal office 
 and of the benefice attaching thereto ;^^ the son was formally 
 introduced at court, was associated with the father in the ful- 
 fillment of the latter's duties, and made every effort to succeed 
 the father at his death. 
 
 2. The king sometimes guaranteed to a favored official that 
 
 . . . regio tamen jussu et oh liberorum procrea/ndorum causam, prae- 
 dictus vir ad suum adscivit conjugium. Cf. also ibid., 615, Ex vita S. 
 Anstrudis, and ibid., 621, Ex vita S. Berthae. Cf. also Brunner, 
 Rechtsgeschichte, II, p. 268. 
 
 ^2 Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges, I, sec. 13, p. 3. Chlo- 
 thacharii I, regis constitutio: Quicquid ecclesia, clerici, vel provinciates 
 nostri, intercedente tamen justo possessionis initio, per triginta annos 
 inconcusso jure possedisse probantur, in eorum ditione res possessa 
 permaneat ; nee actio tantis aevi spatiis sepidta ulterius contra legum 
 ordinem sub aliqua repetitione consurgat, possessione in possessoris 
 iure sine dubio permanente. 
 
 ^I' Ibid., p. 6. Guntchrami et Childeberti regum pactum: Similiter 
 quicquid antefati reges ecclesiis aut fidelibus suis contulerunt, out 
 adhuc conferre cum iustitia, Deo propitiante, voluerint, stabiliter con- 
 serve tur. 
 
 ^^ Ibid., sec. 16, p. 15. Clothacharii II Edictum anni 614: Quicquid 
 parentes nostri aut anteriores principes vel nos per iustitiam visi sumus 
 concessisse et confirmasse, in omnibus debeat confirmari. 
 
 I'' Under the Merovingians, women were not permitted to hold a 
 benefice, by reason of the military service incident thereto. Cf. Pfister, 
 Gaul under the Merovingian Franks. Institutions. {Cambridge Me- 
 dieval History, II, chap, v, p. 133.) 
 
 S6 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR .RELATION 
 
 his heir should succeed to the function (honor) and also to the 
 benefice of the father. 
 
 3. During the decline of the Merovingians, still a third 
 factor became effective. Officials of great power and prestige 
 deliberately usurped the privilege of making their holdings 
 hereditary. 
 
 4. The ultimate factor in this movement was the con- 
 version of allodial lands into benefices. From Roman times 
 there had existed proprietors who held, independently of any 
 suzerain, landed possessions which were regularly handed down 
 from father to son. In the anarchy that accompanied the 
 decline of the Merovingian power, it became increasingly diffi- 
 cult for a small landowner to maintain himself in a state of 
 unprotected isolation, and he saw himself compelled to sur- 
 render his patrimonial lands to the king, and receiving them 
 back again from this overlord, to hold them of him in the 
 nature of a benefice. 
 
 These allodial lands having been originally hereditary, and 
 becoming converted into benefices with the opportunity for 
 express agreement, continued for the most part hereditary, and 
 by their nature superinduced a similar development in the case 
 of other benefices. By the middle of the seventh century this 
 trend was fairly well established, although the principle of 
 hereditary succession cannot be said to have yet become fixed, 
 since the hereditary character was still subject to exceptional 
 concession, and was not applied by general rule. 
 
 Thus it may be seen that from the era of the Prankish occu- 
 pation of Gaul, there existed a personal relationship of homme- 
 d-seigneur constantly increasing in strength, and emphasizing 
 above all the bond between individuals associated through the 
 obligations of fidelity and devotion. In this intercourse land 
 played a secondary role, and "le premier rempart de I'autorite 
 etait la f oi promise et la foi re^ue."^* 
 
 18 Montesquieu, De I'esprit des lots, Book XXXI, chap, xx, p. 518, 
 in the (Euvres computes de Montesquieu, ed. Parelle, Paris, 1877. 
 
 57 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 III 
 Under the Roman empire there had existed a relationship 
 of inferior to superior through the bond of patrocinium, a term 
 summing up the two phases of the relationship: i. the protec- 
 tion given by a powerful to a weaker individual ; 2. the author- 
 ity of the protector over the protected. This same institution 
 existed among the Gauls. Arising, as it did, out of the desti- 
 tution and necessity of the client or one protected, it amounted 
 to little less than slavery. Among the Franks a custom very 
 similar to patrocinium held a considerable place in the life of 
 the people. Commendation (as the Prankish counterpart of the 
 Roman institution was called), during the first two centuries 
 of the Prankish occupation of Gaul was little less arduous 
 than patrocinium, as is shown by the formula of commendation, 
 which ran about as follows: 
 
 "To that magnificent lord so and so, I, so and so: Since it is well 
 known to all how little I have wherewith to feed and clothe myself, 
 I have therefore petitioned your generosity, and your goodwill has 
 decreed to me, that I should hand myself over and commend myself 
 to your protection, which I have accordingly done; that is to say, in 
 the manner following: that you should aid and succor me with food 
 and clothing, according as I shall be able to serve and merit of you. 
 And as long as I live, I owe to do service and respect to you, suitably 
 to my free condition ; and I shall not during the time of my life have 
 the ability to withdraw from your power or guardianship, but must 
 remain always under your authority."^' 
 
 1^ Domino magnifico illo, ego enim ille. Dum et omnibus habetur 
 percognitum quatiter ego minime habeo unde me pascere vel vestire 
 debeam, idea petii pietati vestro, et mihi decrevit voluntas, ut me in 
 vestrum mundoburdum tradere vel commendare deberem, quod ita et 
 feci: eo videlicet modo ut m,e tarn de victu quam et de vestim^nto, 
 iuxta quod vobis servire et promereri potuero, adiuvare vel consolare 
 debeas, et dum, ego in capud advixero, ingenuili ordine tibi servicium vel 
 obsequium inpendere debeam, et de vestra potestate vel mundoburdo 
 tempore vitae meae potestatem non habeam subtrahendi, nisi sub vestra 
 potestate vel defensione diebus vitae meae debeam permanere. Unde 
 convenit ut, si unus ex nobis de has conventiis se emutare voluerit, 
 solidos tantos pari suo conponat, et ipsa convenentia firma permaneat. 
 (Unde convenit ut duas epistolas uno tenore conscriptas ex hoc inter se 
 facere vel adfirmare deberent, quot ita et fecerunt. Roziere, I, no. 
 XIJII. Commendatio. Formula is of the seventh century. Cf. 
 formula in Magna Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, ed. La Eigne, Paris, 
 1646, XVI, sec. 44, p. 43. 
 
 S8 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 It is not to be assumed that the Prankish commendation had 
 its origin in the Roman or Gallic prototype : its later develop- 
 ment is certainly Germanic. There can be positively noted 
 only the analogy of institutions arising under similar condi- 
 tions of civil life. And further, it should be made quite clear 
 that the conversion of allodial lands as such was in no sense 
 commendation, but merely one relatively minor instance in 
 which commendation was primarily employed. For commenda- 
 tion implied no land tenure: in fact it involved ordinarily the 
 contrary, being a personal, non-property contract. 
 
 This practice of comnnendation during the following hun- 
 dred years continued to develop. In the eighth century the 
 term vassus or vassallus came to replace the older form 
 antrustion or fidelis}^ Under the date of the year 757 is re- 
 corded the precise formula of the ceremony whereby a man 
 commended himself : 
 
 "Ibique Tassilo venit, dux Baioariorum, in vasatico se commendans 
 per manus, sacramenta iuravit multa et innuraerabilia, reliquias sanc- 
 torum martyrum manus inponens, et fidelitatem promisit regi Pippino 
 et supradictis filiis eius . . sic ut vassus recta mente et firma devo- 
 tione per iustitiam, sicut vassus dominos suos, esse deberet."^* 
 
 The ceremonial of commendation included the reaching out 
 of the folded hands of the freeman, manibus junctis se tradit, 
 in manibus (domini) se comm^ndat, manus suas mittit inter 
 manus domini.^" The vassal-to-be knelt before his future lord 
 standing or sitting, extended his hands joined together, and 
 placed them between the hands of the lord. The lord then asked 
 him whether he wished to become his man, and the freeeman 
 answered yes. As the final seal of the compact, the lord kissed 
 the freeman upon the mouth. Following the act of cowumendor 
 tion, came the oath of fealty. ^^ This oath^^ demanded a full sur- 
 
 18 Brunner, II, p. 261. 
 
 18 Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum, I, 140, Annates 
 Laurissenses, anno 757. 
 
 20 Brunner, II, p. 51, and 11, p. 270. 
 
 ^^Ibid., II, 272. 
 
 22 Not to be confused with the common oath of fideUty exacted from 
 all subjects on such occasions as the coronation of a new king or the 
 acquiring of territory not previously under the king's control. This 
 form of oath fell into disuse during the period of the later Meroving- 
 ians, but was revived by Charlemagne in 789. Cf. Brunner, II, p. 
 
 58-59. 
 
 59 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 render of the freeman, body and soul, and the express promise 
 to maintain the king's interests.^^ 
 
 Thus far the question has been of the relation of the indi- 
 vidual simply to the king. But conumendation was by no means 
 restricted to the crown. Originally, under the first race of 
 French kings, personal relationship as it found expression in 
 the benefice and commendation, was limited to the reciprocal 
 compact of service and protection between subject and ruler. 
 But after the principle of commendation was established among 
 the Franks, there came an epoch when the decay of the Mer- 
 ovingian power had so progressed that the protection of the 
 king became of doubtful value, especially in distant parts of 
 his realm. This weakening provided an occasion for the great 
 nobles to usurp some part of the royal prerogatives. Such 
 arrogation was manifested in the firmer grasp which the vas- 
 sals of the king began to secure upon the benefices. Another 
 result of this waning of the royal authority was the practice 
 that grew up whereby the great vassals at length received men 
 under their protection as commendati. The movement was 
 furthered by the kings themselves, who failed to realize the 
 significance of the danger with which they were threatened by 
 the new system. 
 
 As early as the sixth century, capitularies made it legal for 
 the Franks to become vassals of the great lords of the king- 
 dom,^* and under Charlemagne this was compulsory.^^ Thus 
 
 23 Brunner, II, p. 58, and II, p. 267. 
 
 2* Si quis ei, quern in patrocinio habuerit, artna dederit, vel aliquid 
 donaverit, apud ipsum que sunt donata permaneat. Si vero alium siVi 
 patronum elegerit, licentiam haheat cui se voluerit commendare, quo- 
 niam ingenuo homini non potest prohiberi, quia in sua potestate consistit; 
 sed reddat omnia patrono quern deseruit. This is of the end of the fifth 
 century. Lex Wisig., lib. V, tit. Ill, sec. i (Forum Judicum, col. I, p. 
 66, Madrid, 1815). And again, Stetit nobis de illis liberis hominibus 
 Longobardis ut licentiam habeant se commendandi ubi voluerint, sicut 
 in tempore Longobardorum fecerunt. Cap. Pipp. reg. Ital., a. 7g3 
 (Baluzius, Capitularia regum Francorum, Parisiis, 1677, I, col. 537, sec. 
 XIII) . Also, unusquisque liber homo, post mortem domini sui, licentiam 
 habeat se commendandi inter haec tria regno ad quemcumque voluerit. 
 Similiter et ille qui nondum alicui commendatus est. (Baluzius, a. 806, 
 I, col. '443, sec. X). 
 
 2" Ut nullus comparet caballum, hovem et j'umentum, vel alia, nisi eum 
 cognoscat qui eum vendidit, aut de quo pago est, vel ubi manet vel quis 
 
 60 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 was vassalage, in its personal, homme-h-seignew relationship, 
 brought to fullest maturity under the Carolingians. 
 
 IV 
 
 With the custom of the great nobles receiving lesser men into 
 personal relationship there naturally grew up the system of sub- 
 infeudation, which resulted gradually in an ascending series 
 of subsidiary tenures that culminated in the various great 
 feudal lords. It continued to develop from the age when the 
 benefices underwent those first strong definitive tendencies 
 towards the hereditary nature that marked their transforma- 
 tion into fiefs. The system was consummated during the 
 tenth and eleventh centuries in a decentralized government, 
 remained practically fixed during the twelfth century, and 
 was finally resolved into the regime of absolute monarchy. 
 
 The benefice became hereditary during the ninth century; 
 the interworking of the hereditary benefice with the already 
 completed system of personal vassalage and with the resultant 
 sub-in feudation^ shows the full ascendency of the feudal sys- 
 tem at its height. Thereafter free alods dwindled almost to the 
 vanishing point: commendation became homage, which was 
 marked by the disappearance of the personal element and by 
 the substitution of the agreement based solely on land pos- 
 session and the increasing obligations attached thereto. The 
 tenth century saw the last of the personal relationship without 
 land consideration f^ at this point the entire status of the re- 
 lationship of man to man was altogether modified. Homage, 
 displacing for all time personal commendation, was formulated 
 thus: Devenio homo vester de tenemento, quod de vobis 
 
 est eius senior. Cap. Car. Mag. a. 806, Baluzius, I, col. 450, sec. 3. Cf. 
 also Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges, I, p. 395, Conventus apud 
 Marsnam, a. 847. Annuntiatio Karoli: Volumus etiam ut unusquisque 
 liber homo in nostro regno seniorem, qualem voluerit, in nobis et in 
 nostris fidelibus accipiat. Mandamus etiam ut nullus homo seniorem 
 suum sine iusta ratione dimiitat, nee aliquis eum recipiat, nisi sicut 
 tempore antecessortmi nostrorum consuetude fuit. 
 
 26 Except isolated cases, constantly decreasing in number, such as 
 the one Acher mentions, in Les Archaismes apparents dans la chan- 
 son de Raoul de Cambrai (Revue des langues romanes, L, 1907, pp. 
 237 ff.) 
 
 61 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 TENEO, et fidem vobis portabo contra amines gentes, salva fide 
 debita Domino Regi et haeredibus suis."" 
 
 Consideration of the function of the personal relationship 
 of homme-d,-seignewr as developed in feudal French history 
 and as instanced in feudal French poetry, with a view to 
 identify the coincidences in each of these two sources will be 
 
 the attempt made in the remainder of this study. 
 * * * * 
 
 The respective dates at which the extant poems were writ- 
 ten in the form which has been handed down has been satis- 
 factorily settled by the editors of the various manuscripts. This 
 written stage was of course subsequent to the period of tlie 
 actual historical events which the individual poems relate. The 
 feudal poems, although they are not historical in all their 
 details, have been connected, almost without exception, with 
 historical events of different periods of early French history. 
 This, historical background incorporated in many of the poems 
 proves that, wherever they bear traces of historicity, they 
 may be assigned to definite periods betweeen the sixth and 
 tenth centuries. 
 
 These two different methods of dating the poetry, whether 
 one starts from the period at which were written the manu- 
 script copies now extant, or from the point of view of the 
 relation of the events in actual history, have been employed 
 exhaustively, and with excellent results. But given thus the 
 historical basis for the poetry, and the fixation of date of the 
 
 2T Cf. Du Cange, Glossarium, sub voce. The full ceremonial of feudal 
 homage and investiture is found in Patrologiae Latinae, ed. J. P. 
 Migne, Paris, 1854, CLXVI, col. 996, sec. 90 B. Vita et Martyrio Beati 
 Caroli Boni Flandriae Comitis. This description, although relating to 
 an incident in the twelfth century, is an accurate description as well 
 of the ceremonial in the earliest feudal age. Pritnum hominium fece- 
 runt ita: Comes requisivii, si inte'gre vellet homo suns fieri; et ille re- 
 spondit, Volo, et junctis manibus amplexatus a minibus comitis, osculo 
 confoederati sunt. Secundo loco fidem dedit is qui hominium fecerat 
 prolocutori comitis in iis verbis: Spondeo in fide mea me fidelem fore 
 amodo comiti Willelmo, et sibi hominium integraliter contra omnes 
 observaturum fide bona et sine dolo. Idemque super reliquias sanctorum 
 tertio loco jurayit. Deinde virgula, quam manu consul tenebat, investi- 
 turas donavit eis omnibus qui hoc pacto securitatem et hominium simul- 
 que juramentum fecerunt. 
 
 62 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 extant manuscripts, there has not yet been solved the question 
 as to the time at which these legends, more or less interwoven 
 with historical material, first found their way into poetic form. 
 The problem has been approximately solved, but always by an 
 application of the two methods described above, with the single 
 exception of Bedier's epoch-making hypothesis as to the joint 
 monastic and jongleuresque origin of the epic poetry. 
 
 The writer has no intention to discuss here the theory em- 
 bodied in the Legendes epiques of Bedier. It iS proposed rather 
 to throw upon this general question of the period of composi- 
 tion of the poetry what light may be derived from a third 
 method of analysis not hitherto brought into play to the extent 
 it seems to deserve. 
 
 In the content of French feudal poetry, aside from reference 
 to actual historical events, there is a not inconsiderable mass 
 of what may be termed custom-material. There is no need for 
 any proof to be adduced that the people's conception of any 
 institution varies from one generation to another. The re- 
 ligion of the fathers is ignorant superstition to the sons. The 
 beliefs of the past are a source of amusement to the present. 
 In the early middle ages, the expression of a writer was neces- 
 sarily that of his own times and milieu to a far greater degree 
 than in a subsequent age when freer access to historical sources 
 obtained. It is justifiable then to consider the social life and 
 institutions reflected in the feudal poems as virtually faithful 
 portrayals of the age in which they were composed. 
 
 There is, however, one difficulty arising at the outset; the 
 poems, though individually written at definite periods, happen 
 to have been revamped from time to time by writers of suc- 
 cessive epochs who undertook to modernize them. They can- 
 not then be said to retain intact the whole spirit and intent 
 of the earlier or original composition. This is evident as re- 
 gards the confused, almost obliterated reflection of historical 
 events in the subsequent redactions. It is equally true of the 
 customs and sundry phases of feudal life revealed in the 
 poetry. On the other hand, these historical events, though 
 distorted, are still recognizable in the later poetry; so also 
 
 63 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 some of the primitive social manners are retained in the poems 
 that hark back to the age of the early composition, albeit in 
 the extant form they are obscured by the revision of redactors 
 unfamiliar with the milieu of the original of many years 
 before.^' 
 
 Attention will be paid in other parts of this work to certain 
 of these customs pertaining to the domestic and the religious 
 life of the subjects of feudal France. The study at present is 
 to be confined to the single institution of the relationship of 
 homme-a-seigneur, as evidenced in the poems. This institu- 
 tion, as outlined above in its historical phases, finds a marked 
 parallel in the poetry. 
 
 The Roman de Floovant, thod^h dating back in its present 
 form only to the second half of the twelfth century,^* is re- 
 lated by historical association to Clovis and the time of the 
 Merovingians. From this viewpoint, it is, therefore, the oldest 
 of all French epic poetry, and is to be considered as distinctly 
 pre-feudal. The existence and the emphasizing of a non- 
 property relation of hommie-a-seigneur is then to be expected 
 and the presence of it goes not a little way to prove the primi- 
 tive character of the poem. The whole trend of the poem in- 
 volves the fealty of a vassal to his lord, and the property com- 
 pact is conspicuous by its absence. 
 
 Floovant, as the story runs, is son of the emperor Clovis, 
 and has been placed under the ban of the kingdom for seven 
 
 28 An example of a very primitive custom retained in the poetry is 
 the saddle-bearing episode in Raoul de Cambrai, 1770 flf., where Raoul, 
 having insulted Bernier, oflfers to make amends by travelling the public 
 highway carrying Bernier's saddle upon his back, and saying to each 
 person whom he encounters, "Behold Bernier's saddle (Veiz ci la B. 
 cele)." The earliest known example of this custom is found in a capi- 
 tulary of Louis II, in the year 866 {Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 
 Capitularia, II, p. 96). Cf. Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthiimer, 4th 
 ed., Leipzig, 1899, II, pp. 312 ff. Another such very ancient custom 
 is the form of oath in Raoul de Cambrai, 3017, Terre ne erbe tie te 
 puet atenir. Cf. Grimm, I, pp. 154 flf., and Settegast, Erde und Gras 
 ah Rechtssymbol im Raoul de Cambrai {Zeitschrift fUr romanische 
 Philologie, XXXI, 1907, pp. 588 ff.). 
 
 29 Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la langue et de la littSrature fran- 
 gaise des origines d 1900, I, p. 101, Paris, 1896-1899. Cf. Rajna, Origini 
 dell' epopea francese, pp. 133 ff., Firenze, 1884. 
 
 64 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 years. His esquire, Richier, returning to the city and finding 
 his master gone, swears that for no man under heaven will he 
 be deterred from following his lord.'" 
 
 "Surely, says Richier, I would not fail him even were my 
 limbs severed from me."'^ And he sets out at once after his 
 master, overtaking him at the moment when Floovant has been 
 captured by Saracens, from whom he rescues him. Together 
 they enter the service of King Flores, who is at war with the 
 Saracens. 
 
 One fact that stands out in this episode is that the position 
 of Richier is not that of an esquire of the later age of Chivalry. 
 Floovant, during the siege of a walled city, finds relief from 
 the stress of battle in chatting with a maiden who is watching 
 the conflict from the tower above. Richier comes up to rebuke 
 his master : 
 
 "You play the recreant, when you talk idly here. Go into her cham- 
 ber to converse with her more intimately. Her safe-conduct would not 
 be worth a farthing if the Saracens found you; you would lose your 
 head. Come now, wretched knave, you may well deem yourself of 
 little worth, for you do leave off slaying the pagans, and seeking re- 
 nown and glory. You were driven from France by reason of your 
 base despite; so you have neither silver nor steed nor charger, if you 
 win them not by iron and steel! Ahl Floovant, you are right fair at 
 speech, but for nought have you arms and a war-horse. Your body is 
 fair, and your face is comely; through love of this lady you will gain 
 more than great wealth ! Oh, unworthy king, never were you of royal 
 blood, if you have not rich mantles, charger and palfrey, and you win 
 them not with the sword of Vienne l"^^ 
 
 And Floovant accepts the rebuke humbly: "Richier," says 
 Floovant, "thanks, for God's sake. I will do it no more, now 
 pardon me."'^ 
 
 Such an episode is precisely what might have been expected 
 
 between a chieftain and a man bound to him by no other than 
 
 personal ties, and illustrates too the duty and privilege of the 
 
 man in the pre-feudal age to advise his master in all matters 
 
 pertaining to his welfare.^* 
 
 3" Floovant, vv. 186-188. 
 
 ^^Ibid., 197. 
 
 ^^Ibid., 451-467- 
 
 S3 Ibid., 468-469. 
 
 3*Cf. Brunner, I, p. 190, and II, pp. 258 ff. 
 
 65 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 A short time after this, Floovant is made prisoner by the 
 paynim infidels. Flores' armies return home defeated, but 
 they console themselves with a banquet. Others might feast, 
 but not Richier : 
 
 Rather does he have his bed made, and goes to lie down thereon. 
 But sleep he cannot, though his limbs were severed from him. And 
 he weeps and laments his rightful lord: "Ah! by an evil fate came 
 you here, noble warrior. Now go I into France, grieved and wrathful, 
 a pelt on my neck like any beggar. And to meet me will come dukes 
 and counts and princes, and ladies and maidens, and the proud emperor 
 himself will ask news of his son whom he holds so dear. Alas, what 
 can I say as to where I have abandoned him ? It will never be believed 
 that I have not slain him treacherously. But by the apostle John whom 
 Christ loved, rather will I take many a heavy blow than that I should 
 not find Floovant, my lord."^^ 
 
 Then Richier rises and boots himself, clothes himself in 
 hauberk, laces on his helm, hangs his shield about his neck, 
 and takes conge, and goes forth to save his lord by a perilous 
 venture.^* At the moment of Richier's coming, Floovant is a 
 prisoner of the Saracens. Richier gains access to the dungeon, 
 and meets a gaoler coming out, wrho remarks laughingly : 
 
 "Hear now of this Frenchman ! I have beaten him so well that he 
 will never have need of aught in all his life." When Richier hears this, 
 almost does the blood burst from his veins, then he says between his 
 teeth, so that the other does not hear, "Thou filthy, ill-kept, ill-born, 
 treacherous knave, for the love of my master shalt lose thy head." And 
 he drew his keen sword from his left side, and smote the heathen 
 pagan such a grievous blow that he split him in twain down to the 
 very navel.'^ 
 
 When Richier comes rushing into the prison cell, Floovant 
 thinks it is the gaoler returned to beat him again; and he 
 seizes a cudgel that lies on the floor, and makes as if to strike 
 Richier. 
 
 "Stop!" cries Richier, "I am Richier, thy faithful friend, bound to 
 thee by tribal ties, and am come to aid thee against the Saracens." And 
 
 86 Floovant, 921-935. 
 8« Ibid., 936-939- 
 ^'' Ibid., 1291-1299. 
 
 66 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 when Floovant hears him, exceeding great joy has he thereat : by rea- 
 son of the happiness that he has thereof is he right merry.ss 
 
 This scene recalls the friendship of Amis and Amiles in the 
 thirteenth century poem of Oriental tradition, the vital differ- 
 ence between them being that the tie uniting Amis and Amiles 
 is the sworn bond of the lifelong friendship of equals. The 
 union of these proverbial comrades is based upon mutual 
 aflfection and equality, recognized and consecrated by a cere- 
 mony religious and superstitions in nature :'° whereas the rela- 
 tionship existing between Richier and Floovant is a tangible 
 expression of the relation of homme-a-seigneur, bound by the 
 ties of devotion and duty, and in actual fact, was perhaps the 
 most conspicuous institution of that system of government 
 which, originating with the Merovingians, was brought to full 
 completion under the Carolingians. 
 
 After Floovant, the next poem worthy of note, in chrono- 
 logical order, is the Couronnement de Louis, which, preserved 
 in manuscript of the thirteeenth century, is related to events 
 in the ninth and tenth centuries. The notable feature about 
 this poem is the diverse character of its composition, made 
 up as it is of not less than five separate poems, with the result 
 that unity of action is entirely lacking. The one element re- 
 tained unimpaired throughout is the theme of the purely non- 
 property relationship of Guillaume au cort nez to his lord, King 
 Louis. It is remarkable that in a poem so broken and uncon- 
 nected in episode, there should remain perfectly preserved this 
 predominating theme, the exemplification of the relation of the 
 non-property vassal to his lord. The expression of this pre- 
 feudal idea of personal loyalty is the sole and at the same time 
 sufficient reason for the grouping together here of the series 
 of unrelated and extraneous incidents. 
 
 ^^Ibid., 1318-1321. 
 
 38 The ceremonial details are not given in the poem ; only the oath 
 of comradeship is mentioned. The mystic and religious nature of the 
 compact is indicated, however, by preceding statements of the Divine 
 Will through which Amis and Amiles were predestined to this rela- 
 tionship. More explicit details are not to be expected in the poetry, 
 which being of popular rather than learned origin, could reproduce 
 only vaguely an institution that had no roots in French soil. Cf. the 
 following chapter of this work. 
 
 67 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 The Couronnement de Louis, receiving its name from the 
 first episode of the composite recital, is the exposition in nar- 
 rative form of the fealty of Guillaume au cort nez to the 
 Emperor Charles and his son Louis. In the opening scene, 
 Charles, now well advanced in years, decides to give the crown 
 to his son Louis. But his purpose is about to be thwarted, 
 when Guillaume enters abruptly and with a terrible blow of 
 his mailed fist slays outright the treacherous baron who op- 
 poses the king's will. Then the Count, seeing the crown rest- 
 ing upon the altar, seizes it without delay, comes to the young 
 prince, and places it upon his head. "Take this, my lord, and 
 may God grant you strength to be a righteous lawgiver."*" 
 
 Guillaume then makes a successful expedition into Italy, 
 and at the close of the campaign is about to take a wife, when 
 from France come messengers who bring bitter news. They 
 tell that King Charles is dead, and the regions of the realm 
 are fallen to Louis. But the traitors wish to make the son of 
 Richard of Roen their king.*^ 
 
 Then Guillaume abandons his bride, and hastens back to 
 defend his lord. 
 
 Three whole years is Guillaume the valiant in Poitou, conquering the 
 land. And there is no day so sacred, neither Easter, nor Noel, nor 
 yet All Saints' Day that ought to be observed, that Guillaume has not 
 his steel helmet shut to, girded on his sword, armed upon his horse. 
 Great pain the baron suffers to maintain and defend his lord.*^ 
 
 The rebellion put down, once again Guillaume makes an 
 expedition into Italy, only to be summoned forthwith to the 
 aid of King Louis. Guillaume asks advice of his nephew 
 Bertran : 
 
 "Fair nephew, hear me. For God's sake what counsel do you give 
 me? The king, my lord, is altogether disinherited."** 
 
 Then Bertrand, wearied at last of the king's ever-recurring 
 demands, replies 
 "Well, let him be. Let us abandon France, and commend it to the 
 
 *" Couronnement de Louis, 142-146. 
 *i/6irf., 1432-1440. 
 *^Ibid., 2011-2019. 
 *3 Ibid., 2659-2661. 
 
 68 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 devil, and with it this king who is such an ass. Never will he hold a 
 square foot of his inheritance."** 
 
 But the deep-rooted principle of fealty overcomes Guil- 
 laume's impatience, and his final decision is: 
 
 "Let us drop the discussion. In the service of the king I wish to 
 spend my youth and strength."*° 
 
 The value of this poem, le Couronnement de Louis, as por- 
 traying the personal relationship strictly of homme-a-seignen/r 
 on a non-property compact may, however, be subject to ques- 
 tion, by reason of the fact that this is not a portrayal of an 
 ordinary lord and his vassals, but of the king and his great 
 lords. The idea of personal fealty is nevertheless predomi- 
 nant, and its conception belongs to a period prior to the full 
 development of feudalism. The Couronnement de Louis, says 
 Gautier, is, together with the Roland, the most anti-feudal of 
 all the chansons de geste. In it the ideas of nationality and 
 patriotism are fully developed. And generally the older a 
 chanson is, the more truly French or national it is.*'' The reason 
 for this is obvious in that as soon as feudalism had broken up 
 the power of the king, all idea of national loyalty, centered as 
 it was in the very person of the king, disappeared, and the 
 only allegiance known subsequently was that of a man to a 
 lord from whom he held land. Thus the Couronnement de 
 Louis appears to be a poem originally composed in its diverse 
 parts soon after the time of the historic events with which it 
 deals. It is later in composition than the Floovant, yet evi- 
 dently pre-feudal in conception.** 
 
 A very pointed example of personal devotion is found in 
 the Gormund et Isembard.*^ The manuscript of this chanson 
 is of the thirteenth century, whereas the material is related to 
 
 *^Ibid., 2662-2665. 
 
 *5 Ibid., 2666-2667. 
 
 *8 L. Gautier, L'idee politique dans les chansons de geste, in Revue 
 des questions historiques, VIII, p. 109, Paris, 1869. 
 
 *7 Ibid. 
 
 *8 Cf . Darmesteter, De Floovante, especially Pars III, cap. unicum, 
 Paris, 1877. 
 
 *^ Gormont et Isembart, ed. Bayot, Paris, 1914. 
 
 69 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 events which took place under Louis III, in the year 88i.°* 
 The unique manuscript of this poem, however, is fragmentary 
 and mutilated. In the extant text, the relation of Gormund 
 and Isembard is purely a personal and non-property one, but 
 the version of the chanson as preserved is too incomplete to 
 warrant such a conclusion without further data. External evi- 
 dence, however, shows that Isembard was a French warrior 
 who was compelled to flee from France, and took service 
 with King Gormund, who later invaded France.^^ 
 
 Isembard then served Gormund not as a consequence of 
 any property obligation, but rather as the result of a voluntary 
 and personal compact of service in return for protection. And 
 the devotion of Isembard may properly be taken as expressing 
 something of that primitive homme-a-seigneur relationship 
 that in the ninth and tenth centuries showed signs of disappear- 
 ing definitively. 
 
 Both the beginning and the end of this chanson de geste are 
 missing. The fragment opens with a mighty battle between 
 the forces of King Louis and King Gormund. In this conflict 
 Louis is victorious and slays Gormund. The first notable 
 scene follows when Isembard finds the body of his dead lord 
 and king. 
 
 "Behold you Isembard riding down the lane. Now he sees Gormund 
 in the meadow slain, prostrate, bleeding, mouth gaping wide. And 
 Isembard well-nigh swoons of grief ; hear ye his lament : "Ah I king 
 and emperor, many a time have I told you in your own country that 
 the French are hardy warriors; never was man born of woman who 
 might wrest any land from them. Ah, Gormund, my king, my emperor, 
 how noble was your visage, and how fair and ruddy I How stained now 
 and changed! Louis, worthy emperor, you have served France well 
 today, and Gormund has paid dear therefor. But, before God, I will 
 never desert his cause so long as I can gird on sword."^^ 
 
 And the desire for revenge, which was, after fealty, the 
 
 '^''Fragment de Gormund et Isembard, ed. R. Heiligbrodt, p. 505 
 (Romanische Studien, ed. E. Boehmer, Strassburg, 1878, III, pp 501- 
 596)- 
 
 " Ibid., pp. 502-505. Cf. also F. Lot, Gormund et Isembard (Romania, 
 XXVII, 1898, pp. 1-50). ^ 
 
 ^2 Gormoni et Isembart, w. 464-488. 
 
 70 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 supreme motive of this primitive age, asserts itself. Isembard 
 looks about at the fleeing warriors, and cries out : 
 
 "Whither flee ye, people, gone astray without a lord in any country? 
 Turn back upon your course and let us avenge our emperor l"5s 
 
 This is a most noteworthy appeal; their king is dead, the 
 cause is lost, and the sole hope is escape by flight. Neverthe- 
 less, they rally, only to lose heart. Soon again the pagans flee 
 away every one, and Isembard alone is left.°* And although 
 alone, Isembard fights fearless to the last, and dies unwaver- 
 ing in his devotion to his lord. 
 
 The three poems thus far considered have illustrated to a 
 fair degree of precision the fealty and personal devotion that 
 existed before feudalism had achieved the task of estabHshing 
 property tenure, and the inter-relation of property rights as 
 the one prime factor of French political and social life. In 
 these poems it has been noted that the property consideration 
 is entirely absent, but the demonstration of the point in this 
 investigation is not quite complete as yet. Each one of these 
 poems shows a distinctive and different obstacle hindering a 
 clear depiction and comprehension of the ideal relation : in the 
 Floovant, the portrayal is marred by a constant intrusion of 
 roman d'aventure elements, undoubtedly due to later treatment, 
 but not easily to be distinguished in all cases from the primitive 
 parts of the poem. The Cowronnement de Louis contains too 
 many royalist features to be regarded as characteristic of a 
 pure homme-a-seigneur relationship. What is extant of the 
 Gormund et Isembard comes nearer the mark, but is, after all, 
 too fragmentary, -except for purposes of partial illustration. 
 
 There is, however, one other poem of this type that has 
 been preserved, and in it are discoverable all the phases of this 
 relation suggested in the three just discussed; and further- 
 more, none of the obscuring elements of the other poems men- 
 tioned mars to any considerable degree the development of the 
 theme of the homme-a-seignetir relation in this last, namely, 
 the Raoul de Cambrai. 
 
 ^^Ibid., 490-493- 
 ^*Ibid., 613-614. 
 
 71 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 The chanson of Raoul de Cambrai is preserved in a single 
 manuscripts^ of the last half of the twelfth century.^' The 
 main action of the epic has been connected, however, with 
 events of the year 943.°'^ 
 
 The story of the Raoul de Cambrai is known well enough 
 not to require a detailed analysis. A few words will therefore 
 suffice by way of summary. 
 
 During the days of his minority, Raoul de Cambrai is bereft 
 of his paternal fief by King Louis. Having arrived at the age 
 of manhood, he demands from King Louis the return of the 
 fief. Louis compromises, and assures to Raoul the land of 
 whatever baron of the realm shall thereafter be the first to 
 die. It is to be understood that Louis means this to apply only 
 in the case of a baron leaving no heirs. But subsequently, 
 when Herbert, Count of Vermandois, dies, leaving four sons, 
 Raoul holds the king to the letter of his promise, demands the 
 Vermandois, and is granted this fief on condition that he can 
 seize and hold it by force. Raoul invades the Vermandois and 
 burns a convent where Marsent, mother of his esquire Bernier 
 (who is a natural son of Marsent and Ybert of Vermandois) 
 perishes in the flames. Bernier thereupon becomes bitterly 
 angry with his master over this misdeed, and receiving a savage 
 blow at his hands, deserts Raoul, and later slays Raoul in bat- 
 tle. After a long lapse of time, when apparent peace has been 
 restored between the two families, Guerri, uncle of Raoul, 
 avenges his nephew by treacherously slaying Bernier. 
 
 From one point of view, this epic centers upon the death of 
 
 55 There are in addition the following fragments : first, some 250 
 lines of a manuscript now lost, which were copied by the president 
 Fauchet in the sixteenth century. Secondly, two fragments published 
 in 1906 by Bayot (Revue des BibliotMques et archives de Belgique) : 
 the first fragment contains verses 1-105, and 847-980; the second gives 
 a continuation of the Raoul, identifying it with the legend of Gormund 
 et Isembard: Pour ceste guerre passerent Sarrasin /Avuec Gourmont, 
 le riche harharin, /Par le conseil Ysembart le meschin /Que Loeys 
 en fist aler frarin. /Cis Ysembart estoit germain cousin Raoul I'enfant 
 celui de Cambresin. This linking of the legend of Raoul de Cambrai 
 with Gormund et Isembard is found also in Philippe de Mouskes, 
 Chronique rimee, 14030 ff. 
 
 5« Petit de Julleville, I, p. 106. 
 
 '''Raoul de Cambrai, pp. xv ff. 
 
 72 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 Raoul, with the attendant vengeance exacted therefor by 
 Guerri. But the poem presents even greater unity of plot and 
 a far more clearly developed theme, if Bernier and not Raoul 
 is regarded as the central figure of the poem. Certainly, with 
 the possible exception of Raoul, Bernier ought to be so con- 
 sidered, when it is seen that Raoul disappears completely from 
 the narrative after line 3721, just about midway in the story. 
 Bernier is the ideal type of liegeman in the primitive feudalism 
 of the tenth century, as contrasted with the period of chivalry 
 represented in the Court Epic of the thirteenth century. At the 
 very outset, in Raoul de Cambrai, Bernier is shown united by 
 ties of fealty to Raoul, but beholden to him by no other 
 consideration than that he has voluntarily entered Raoul's ser- 
 vice, receiving his food and raiment from him, and also has 
 been dubbed by him as his knight. Of paramount importance 
 in this connection is the fact that the poet in no way refers to 
 Bernier as holding any fief of Raoul, or property of any sort. 
 
 The strictly personal nature of this bond between Raoul and 
 Bernier is evidenced by the words of Ybert to his son Bernier 
 when the latter, after renouncing the service of Raoul as a 
 result of their quarrel over the burning of Marsent, returns 
 home: 
 
 "So long as you were a boy under my guardianship," says Ybert, 
 "we nourished you in lordly fashion And when you became of age, 
 you deserted us by reason of your egregious folly. You believed the 
 flattery of Raoul, and betook yourself straight to Cambrai. You have 
 served Raoul, and he has done you kindness."^^ 
 
 Likewise, before Raoul fulfills his threat to invade Ver- 
 mandois, his mother asks : 
 
 "Just tell me what will become of Bernier now that you have 
 nourished him until you have made him a knight ?"=* 
 
 Bernier is thus under obligations to Raoul only through 
 personal gratitude for sundry favors, not for any property 
 consideration. How inviolable that primitive bond was, is the 
 real theme of the chanson. 
 
 58 Ibid., vv. 1873-1879. 
 ^oibid., 1077-1078. 
 
 73 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 Just as Raoul is about to invade the Vermandois, ancestral 
 possession of the kinsmen of Bernier, the young esquire makes 
 this protest : 
 
 "I am your liegeman, that I deny not. But for my part I do not 
 advise you to take their lands, for I know right well that they have the 
 assistance of Ernaut de Doai: in no land have I beheld such warriors. 
 Seek to come to terms with them before you do them aught of 
 harm."6o 
 
 The notable feature of this warning is that it is prefaced by 
 Bernier's express avowal "/ am your liegeman {Je sui vostre 
 hom, ja nel vos celerai)." 
 
 Raoul proceeds to lay wa§te the Vermandois, 
 
 and Bernier is gloomy and thoughtful when he sees the lands of his 
 father and his friends thus burned; and he almost dies with wrath. 
 Wherever they go, Bernier always delays, and is in no haste to arm 
 himself.^i 
 
 But although in this attack upon the Vermandois, Bernier 
 strives to avoid taking an active part against his own father, 
 the idea of deserting Raoul never occurs to Bernier. The bond 
 of homage and fealty in this case is stronger than the ties of 
 son to father — a situation in early feudal life which served the 
 poet as his sole and all-inspiring theme. 
 
 Not long thereafter Bernier meets with his mother and talks 
 with her about the designs Raoul has upon the Vermandois. 
 She reminds him that he is his father's only son, and will in- 
 herit his father's possessions if he goes over to his side in 
 defense of the domains of his ancestors. The words here given 
 in answer by Bernier, and those that follow from his mother 
 are in themselves an epitome of the entire poem and a reflec- 
 tion of early feudal standards. 
 
 Then says Bernier, "By Saint Thomas I swear I would not do it 
 for the fief of Baudas. Raoul my lord is more wicked than Judas. 
 But he is my lord ; he gives me horse and armor, and cloths and silken 
 stuffs. I would not fail him for the fief of Damas, until everyone 
 says, "Bernier, you are right."'^ 
 
 And the mother replies : "Son, by my faith, you are right. Serve 
 your lord, you will gain God thereby." 
 
 8" Ibid., 934-939- 
 ^^Ibid., 1224-1228. 
 ^'Ibid., 1379-1387. 
 
 74 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEUR RELATION 
 
 Stronger than any blood relationship, this bond of homme-d- 
 seigneur was beyond every material consideration. In the 
 events of the poem, a climax of crude dramatic sort is 
 reached when Raoul sets fire to the monastery of Origny; 
 when death comes to Bernier's mother, Marsent, in the ensuing 
 conflagration. Bernier is driven well-nigh to the limit of his 
 endurance by this cruel deed, and reproaches Raoul, though 
 with a certain restraint even at this point, while solemnly 
 acknowledging the continuance of his position as liegeman of 
 Raoul. 
 
 "Raoul, fair lord, says Bernier, you do much that is praiseworthy, 
 but on the other hand you do much that is worthy of blame. ... I 
 am your liegeman, nor do I seek to hide it ; but you have rendered me 
 evil reward for my services. You burnt my mother there within that 
 monastery, and from death there is no recovery. But now you wish to 
 destroy my father and my uncles ! It is no marvel if I begin to be 
 angry."ss 
 
 Raoul retorts by picking up a fragment of a broken spear, 
 and striking Bernier. This act of personal violence proves 
 enough to abolish every hitherto recognized bond. Bernier 
 renounces his allegiance to Raoul, and starts off forthwith to- 
 wards his father's camp, which is pitched under Saint-Quentin. 
 A great battle follows, in the midst of which Raoul and Bernier 
 meet. Bernier finds himself no longer beholden to Raoul in 
 any wise, yet his years of personal service recur to his mind, 
 and he begins to reflect on whether he has not, even now, too 
 easily forsworn his lord's service, with the result that after 
 reciting his grievances he ends by seeking peace of Raoul : 
 
 "Ah, Raoul, my lord, son of a noble mother, I cannot forget that 
 you dubbed me knight. But a heavy price have you since then made me 
 pay. . . . You burnt my mother in the monastery of Origny, and my 
 head you broke with your spear. I cannot deny that you offered me 
 amend, but I was angered when I saw my blood flow. If now again 
 you offer it to me, I will not refuse it, but will pardon all."'* 
 
 Raoul answers with a basely insulting refusal, and in the 
 fight that follows Bernier kills him. Even when forced in self 
 
 o^Ibid., 1638-1649. 
 6* Ibid., 3055-3070. 
 
 75 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 defense to slay his erstwhile master, Bernier ponders with deep 
 regret over the deed : "Of this, so help me God, it grieves me, 
 that I have slain Raoul, but I have done it within my right.""^ 
 
 After the death of Raoul the war between the factions of 
 Vermandois and Cambresis drags on for a time, but at length 
 the two families are reconciled and Bernier takes in marriage, 
 as a sequel of good omen to the feud, the daughter of Guerri, 
 Raoul's uncle. Meanwhile the death of Raoul seems to have 
 been forgotten. 
 
 One day Bernier and Guerri happen to be journeying to- 
 gether on their return from a pilgrimage. Approaching once 
 more the place of the great battle where Raoul was slain afore- 
 time, Bernier remembers it all keenly, and sighs. Guerri 
 straightway inquires of him what his trouble is. Bernier at 
 first keeps silent, but yields finally to the insistence of his aged 
 kinsman. 
 
 "I will tell you,'' Bernier replies, "though it grieves me that it so 
 pleases you. I am reminded of the noble Raoul, who took such pride 
 upon himself that he thought to deprive four counts of their heritage. 
 See here the very spot where I slew him."^^ 
 
 The memories thus unfortunately recalled awaken in the old 
 man all the passion of a desire for revenge that has long been 
 denied. He gives no sign of his thought, but when the two 
 stop near a brook to give water to their steeds, Guerri all 
 unawares loosens one of the stirrups from his saddle and sud- 
 denly smites Bernier upon the head, dealing him his death- 
 blow. 
 
 With reference to the subject of medieval civil administra- 
 tion, a relationship of inferior to superior like that of Bernier 
 to Raoul was possible as late as the twelfth century f but the 
 actual period of the general prevalence of this relation of 
 homme-a-seigneur ended with the tenth century. Subsequently 
 the status existed merely as a legal survival. And whatever 
 may be said as to the connection of historical events with the 
 
 «= Ibid., 3163-3164. 
 s" Ibid., 8379-8384. 
 
 8^ There has been noted the single example adduced by Acher : cf. 
 supra, p. 61, note 26. 
 
 76 
 
HOMME-A-SEIGNEVR RELATION 
 
 episodes related in Raoul de Cambrai, the social phases repro- 
 duced therein, and the attitude of the poet toward such matters, 
 reflect beyond question the period of the original conception 
 of the poem. From this point of view, therefore, the highest 
 probability is that the chanson of Raoul de Cambrcd, or that 
 part of it which constitutes the primitive nucleus, came into 
 existence not later than the end of the tenth century.^* 
 
 On the side of history, the personal non-property relation- 
 ship of homme-d-seigneur has been presented in this chapter 
 with the purpose of demonstrating the growth and progress 
 of this relationship from the sixth to the ninth century. Dur- 
 ing those four centuries the benefice originated, developed, and 
 was at length transformed into the fief. It has been shown also 
 that by the tenth century the fief had entirely displaced the 
 benefice, and the land-tenure contract had in the same time 
 supplanted the personal non-property relationship. In the 
 consideration of the social and political conditions reflected by 
 Old French poetry, four chansons de ffeste have been analysed ; 
 (i) the Floovant, of the middle of the ninth century, evidently 
 prior to the appearance of the property element in the vassal 
 to lord contract, as is shown by the similar status of the actual 
 institution in history at that time; (2) the Couronnement de 
 Louis, and (3) the Gorrmmd et Isembard, in the last half of the 
 ninth century, when the personal domination of Charlemagne 
 and his son Louis had resulted in the highest development of 
 the personal relationship of homme-d,-seigneur; and (4) the 
 Raoul de Cambrai, of the tenth century, which resumes and 
 preserves the record of the institution of personal fealty to a 
 degree not discoverable in any other early Romance monument, 
 nor in any of the historical sources of the pre-feudal period. 
 
 ^8 Cf . Suchier and Birch-Hirschf eld, Geschichte der franzosischen lit- 
 teratur, Leipzig and Vienna, 1909, pp. 48 flf. Note however the error of 
 accrediting the composition of Raoul de Cambrai to Bertolais. 
 
 77 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM IN FRENCH EPIC 
 
 POETRY 
 
 I 
 
 The period beginning with the accession to the throne of 
 Hugues Capet, in the year 987, and ending- with the advent, in 
 1226, of the reign of Saint Louis, saw the completest internal 
 activity of the forces of feudalism in France.^ This feudal 
 organization of France, at the acme of its development in the 
 eleventh and twelfth centuries, was based primarily upon land- 
 tenure. But the weakening of the central government which 
 had made inevitable the infinite parcelling of land, had at the 
 same time brought other vital consequences. 
 
 First of all, this very parcelling of the land, by the induce- 
 ment that it offered every noble to aggrandize his fief, resulted 
 in a constant appeal to force of arms, since the central govern- 
 ment lacked the power to maintain an equitable division, even 
 had it so desired. And, arising directly from the inability of 
 the king to assure protection as well as from the land tenure 
 system, resulted that status of the individual so peculiar to 
 the feudal period. 
 
 In this chapter, the effort is made to explain and to illus- 
 trate, from historical sources and from poetry, certain of the 
 customs of the age bearing upon this status of the individual, 
 and the part that force played in the life of the people. Next 
 to the sub-infeudation of land, these two conceptions were the 
 outstanding features of the full maturity of feudalism.^ 
 
 ipor an authoritative survey of this period, cf. Molinier, Etude sur 
 I' administration feodale dans le Languedoc {Histoire genSrale de 
 Languedoc, Devic and Vaissete, VII, pp. 132 flf., Toulouse, 1879). 
 
 2 Seignobos, Regime feodal, especially 52-61 (Lavisse and Rambaud, 
 Histoire genSrale, II, pp. i ff., Paris, 1903). 
 
 78 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 In France, at least, the first of these elements involved the 
 position of each individual, regulated and conditioned by some 
 one above him and definitely related to others beneath him ; but 
 a status and relationship based in each instance upon the tenure 
 of lands of greater or less value and power, and upon the in- 
 terdependence of these lands according to their military 
 strength. 
 
 This interdependence must be taken in a restricted meaning, 
 for the reason that it was never the mutual support of equals, 
 upon the same level, but of inferior and superior, in an as- 
 cending series. Two men might have been apparently equal 
 when there was no intercourse of one with the other ; brought 
 into contact, one of them became inevitably subject to the 
 other. 
 
 What appears on the surface to be a direct and valid argu- 
 ment refuting the existence of the system outlined above has 
 been elaborated by Flach in his article entitled Compagnonnage 
 dans les chansons de geste, a study first appearing in Les 
 &tudes romaites dediees a Gaston Paris.^ This article was 
 incorporated in 1893 in the second volume of Flach's work 
 entitled Les Origines de I'ancienne France, in which the origi- 
 nal study is somewhat amplified, but not changed in any con- 
 siderable measure.* This essay of Flach, a very eminent 
 authority in matters of early French history, ought not to be 
 overlooked, because of a certain confusion that might arise out 
 of a present-day and somewhat common misconception. 
 
 It is not intended here to take up the question in detail. 
 Such a study would furnish of itself material enough for an 
 exhaustive investigation. Nor is there intended any detailed 
 criticism of Flach's most scholarly article. An analysis of his 
 work need go only so far as is necessary to prevent, in regard 
 to the matters here discussed, any errors involved in a too 
 hasty evaluation or exaggeration of that part of Flach's work 
 bearing upon the homme-A-seigneur relation. 
 
 3 Paris, 1891, pp. 141-180. • _ 
 
 " J. Flach, Les Origines de I'anciewne France, II, pp. 427-490, Pans, 
 
 1893. 
 
 79 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 The title of the study, Comipagnonnage, Flach has not de- 
 fined. The word does not occur in the chansons de geste nor 
 elsewhere in early French writings, either prose or verse. 
 The modern connotation is of course inapplicable. Whatever 
 explanation Flach may urge as to the use of the word must be 
 found in the context of his own work. The text of the article 
 in question shows that he invests this vocable with several 
 meanings, diverse and unrelated. 
 
 In the first division of his theme, Le Comitat germain,^ the 
 term expresses the relation of a Germanic chieftain to the 
 warriors under him, whether his authority be derived by in- 
 heritance, or whether it accrue from the voluntary submission 
 to his leadership. And in this part of the discussion, the rela- 
 tion existing between the chieftain and the foremost of his 
 warriors is called by the author compagnonnage. In the next 
 division,^ compagnonnage is applied to the blood-brotherhood 
 inherent among the primitive Scandinavians, a relationship 
 having as its basis the transfusion of blood between two or 
 more men who participated in certain pagan rites or other 
 forms of blood-covenant common to many primitive peoples, 
 and which survives to this day among the Arabs.'' But this 
 practice has never obtained in the history of France, if the 
 sources can be depended upon. And there is no historic 
 mention of it among the Germanic tribes since the first century 
 B.C.» 
 
 Incidentally, it may be adduced that if Flach in his article 
 means to imply that the rite itself, or the tradition of it, came 
 into France through outside agencies, more emphasis might 
 well have been laid upon the Oriental influence, which is, 
 moreover, so marked in the Amis et Amiles, the poem upon 
 
 = lUd., II, p. 435. 
 
 ^ Ibid., p. 439. 
 
 ' Frazer, the final authority on matters of religion and superstition 
 among primitive peoples, in reference to the blood-covenant, refers to 
 H. C. Trumbull, Blood Covenant, Phila., 1898, pp. 8-12: J. G. Frazer, 
 Golden Bough, III, Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, p. 130, London, 
 1914, 3d ed. 
 
 8 Trumbull, Blood Covenant, p. 320. Cf. Grimm, Deutsche Rechts- 
 alterthumer, I, 163 ff., 263 ; 265-6. 
 
 80 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 which Flach bases so large a part of his discussion. In any 
 case, this blood-covenant, styled compagnonnage by Flach, is 
 quite other than the form of bond characteristic of a Germanic 
 chieftain and his chosen group of warriors. 
 
 Under the next following rubric, Compagnonnage sous les 
 rois francs,^ compagnonnage is considered as the relation of 
 senior and commendati, an unmistakable instance of superior 
 to inferior, having to do doubtless with the same institution of 
 homme-d-seigneur relationship among the Germanic tribes, 
 but sharing nothing in common with the blood covenant of the 
 Scandinavians. The subsequent chapter^" bears upon compag- 
 nonnage as the uniting together of members of the same family 
 bound by ties o£ blood kinship. 
 
 In the next part,^^ the same word is applied to the relation 
 borne by a seigneur to his mMisnie, that is, to the vassals com- 
 posing his personal retinue, while in the following division of 
 the subject,^^ Flach cites the case where thirty thousand men 
 are dependent upon one lord, under whom they set out in 
 search of adventure. This last example is from the poetry. In 
 the last chapter but one. La Fraternite fictive,^^ poetic friend- 
 ships such as that of Roland and Oliver are dwelt upon. And 
 finally, the chapter entitled Le Compagnonnage parfait,'^* 
 which is to be thought of as the ultimate expression of 
 compagnonnage, an ideal which is realized when two men are 
 predestined by Divine Will to be relatives, to be brothers, 
 according to a purely poetic sentiment never to be met with in 
 any feudal regime. 
 
 These last two chapters are an epitome of the whole article, 
 showing at once the faults and the merits of an apparently 
 historical article, of no mean literary merit, but based almost 
 exclusively upon poetic sources, and upon analogies which, 
 though clearly plausible, are extraneous to French feud'al con- 
 ditions, of record in history. 
 
 9 Flach, Origines de I'ancienne France, II, p. 442. 
 
 ^oibid., p. 445- 
 
 " Ibid., p. 455- 
 
 ^^Ibid., p. 469- 
 
 13 Ibid., p. 471- 
 
 1* Ibid., p. 485- 
 
 81 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 In the development of this theory of the equality of men in 
 the feudal age, in addition to this analogy with Scandinavian 
 custom, and an array of historical facts concerning the homme- 
 to-seigneur relation in French history, Flach lays great stress 
 upon the use of certain words in the epic poetry which are 
 construed by him to convey an idea of equality among men, 
 and a form and degree of figmental brotherhood. This error 
 of judgment arises chiefly out of his misinterpretation of the 
 words compagnon — usually in the vocative form compains — 
 and pair, or compere. 
 
 Flach interprets compains as always denoting this fraternite 
 fictive. The generally accepted etymological meaning is one 
 who eats bread with another. There are instances in the poetry 
 where the word could be understood as indicating some closer 
 relation than acquaintance, or interest in a common cause, but 
 examples are always at hand where the word is impossible of 
 rendition except in the broadest sense of casual amity, and 
 the conventional term of greeting in the daily affairs of men 
 with men. Such is the use of the word — to mention but a 
 single instance of many — in line 2879 o^ '^'*3' ^^ Nanteuil, a 
 poem of the end of the twelfth century : "Compeins, que feites 
 vous? quer poignies d bandon."^^ 
 
 The context shows that the word is employed by one man to 
 another whom he has never before seen. The sole relation be- 
 tween them happens to be that, although from different coun- 
 tries, of different nationality and serving in different armies, 
 they are at the moment fighting a common enemy. 
 
 Another word that Flach has adduced as proof of this 
 brotherhood of men, without full regard to its correct meaning, 
 is compere, or per, which he takes in the sense of equality only. 
 In a discussion upon the origin of the twelve peers, Lot tabu- 
 lates the connotations of the word as f ollows."^' 
 
 I. La signification premiere de par, celle d'homme de meme condition 
 sociale et politique, s'est conservee naturellement pendant tout le 
 
 1= Gui de Nanteml, ed. Meyer, Paris, 1861. v. 2879. 
 1" F. Lot, Quelques mots sur I'origine des Pairs de France (Revue 
 historique, LIV, 1894, p. 35). 
 
 82 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 moyen age, mais ce mot a pris des acceptions plus particuliere des 
 une epoque ancienne; 2. il designe les epoux; 3. il designe des 
 freres ou des cousins unis par un serment commun; 4. il s'applique a 
 la fois au seigneur at au vassal; 4. pair designe encore les vassaux 
 beneficiers de I'empereur, etc.; 6. en corabinant le sens premier et le 
 sens quatrieme, le mot est devenu, depuis le XP siecle, I'equivalent de 
 baron. 
 
 Then, speaking of the fourth meaning of the word pair, that 
 is, its application at one and the same time to homme and 
 seigneur. Lot adds : 
 
 Les historiens et les juristes (Championniere, Lehuerou, Flach, I, p. 
 231 etc.) n'ont pas saisi cette signification particuliere du mot pair, 
 lis n'ont pas vu qu'il s'agissait d'une relation de seigneur a vassal et 
 ont cru a une relation d'egal a egal. Tous les pairs auraient ainsi 
 forme une sorte d'association de secours mutuel. lis ont bati ainsi 
 toute une theorie juridique, qui, n'etant fondee que sur des textes mal 
 interpretes, ne tient naturellement pas debout.i' 
 
 The impossibiUty of the juxtaposition of two men as equals 
 is well illustrated by the Quatre Fils Aymon. Born of the 
 same mother, no one of them distinguished above the others 
 by title or office, an equality of mutual relation might have 
 existed among the four brothers. Or lacking that equality, the 
 eldest son, from the dignity of his age, might have seemed 
 
 "Ibid., p. 35, note 4. Cf. G. Monod (Revue historique, LII, 1893, 
 p. 446) : Cette seconde partie . . . pourra donner lieu a d'assez graves 
 critiques. On reprochera surtout d, M. Flach d'avoir accorde une im- 
 portance trap exclusive a des textes poetiques . . . on lui reprochera 
 de ne point tenir compte des institutions politiques et militaires des 
 Carolingiens, et des usurpations des fonctionnaires, d'avoir meconnu 
 I'importance du role des benefices dis le IX' siicle. On sera StonnS de 
 ne trouver presque nulle part cites les textes Ugislatifs du VIII' et du 
 IX' sitcle, et on pensera que le role inconscient des forces socialest 
 spontanees a ete singulierement exagere. And also, the criticism of C 
 Pfister (Revue historique, LIU 1893, pp. 366-7) : M. Flach defait la 
 
 societe et il la reconstitue presque de toutes pieces - . . il a defait, 
 
 en plein X' siicle, la societi, et il I'a refaite par la protection. And 
 ibid., p. 358, note i : Parfois M. Flach a detourne les textes de leur 
 sens, en les citant isolement et en les detachant de leur cadre; ainsi, 
 dans les Capitulaires de Meersen, le mot par designe nan pas lek 
 vassaux ayant jure fidSlite d un mime suzerain, mais bien les trots 
 frires-rois presents a I'entrevue. 
 
 As Flach was born in 1846, this article on Compagnonnage in 1890 
 represents the best results of this noted legal historian's work at his 
 maturity. 
 
 83 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 entitled to assume the authority. But such was not the case; 
 this happened to be contrary to the exigencies of those times. 
 And Renaud, because of his valiant and energetic disposition, 
 took precedence over his eldest brother, Alard, and exercised 
 full authority with regard to all the rest.^* 
 
 A seeming contradiction of this system of superimposed strata 
 in society is found in the expression freres d'a/rmes, the fra- 
 ternity of arms. But the term freres d'armes does not signify 
 equality of two men in respect to each other, nor any mutual 
 devotion of two men so related. What is conveyed by the term 
 is adequately stated by the learned Du Cange in his definition 
 of fratres armorum: Fratres armorum. Qui sub eodem vexillo 
 militahant}^ The Fratres armorum are soldiers that fight 
 under one standard, and serve one lord. Such a grouping of 
 warriors equal in respect to each other only by reason of their 
 individual subjection to a master under whom they serve, 
 is described in the twenty-first Dissertation of Du Cange.^" 
 The grouping together of these men in one common bond does 
 not imply any idea of devotion to one another, but is due to 
 the obligation of service that each one owes to the lord hold- 
 ing authority over them. A full comprehension of the cogency 
 of this primal fact in its bearing upon the social conditions of 
 the eleventh and twelfth centuries in France, is the essential 
 basis for an adequate interpretation of the institutions and cus- 
 toms of the entire medieval period. 
 
 If anything further need be said in support of the conception 
 of feudal society as a uniform mass of parts superimposed in 
 ascending strata, Du Cange has given that final word by the 
 fashion in which he defines compares: Compares praeterea 
 dicti Pares, inter se comparati respectu superioris domini}'^ 
 Thus on every hand is pointed out authoritatively the fact 
 that the feudal man-to-man relation was one of inferior to 
 superior, and never of equal to equal. 
 
 18 Chanson des Quatre Fits Aymon, ed. Castets, Montpellier, 1909, 
 p. 2. 
 
 1' DuCange, Glossarlum, sub voce. 
 
 2" Ibid., VII, Dissertations, XXI, pp. 80 ff., Des adoptions d'honneur 
 en frere, et, par occasion, des frires d'armes. 
 
 21 Ibid., sub voce. 
 
 84 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 II 
 
 Interworking with this first principle of the constitution of 
 feudal society, that is, the hierarchical organization, is a second 
 factor, namely, the resort to force as the arbiter of events. 
 These two conceptions, the resultants of many and varied in- 
 scrutable causes, were themselves the pillars which, for a space 
 of about two hundred years, maintained to a large degree 
 intact the customs of feudal life in France. Never since the 
 period of full feudalism in France has force occupied so domi- 
 nant a place in the life of every individual coming within the 
 wide range of its jurisdiction. In the period of French history 
 here under consideration, force was unlimited and undefined 
 with reference to any high moral standard. Right and wrong 
 were recognized, of course, but they did not determine the ap- 
 plication of force, since force was paramount. When the per- 
 sonal non-property relationship of homme-&-seigneur waned 
 and disappeared in the tenth century, moral obligations ceased 
 to be duly recognized, and their place in the counsels of men 
 was usurped by the domination of expediency and physical 
 strength. 
 
 This crude fact is demonstrated in the most tangible manner 
 in those feudal epics which retain to an unusual degree the 
 spirit of the epoch of the first general functioning of the land- 
 tenure system. For example, the first branch of the Quatre 
 Fits Aymon, which is occupied with the war between Beuves 
 d'Aigremont and Charlemagne, notably embodies this idea of 
 primitive force, barbarous in execution, and resorting to any 
 kind of pretext for a motive. 
 
 In this poem, of the end of the twelfth century in its present 
 form but of earlier composition, Charlemagne declares his in- 
 tention of waging war on Beuves because the latter has re- 
 fused to yield the homage demanded by Charlemagne. "If I 
 can hold him in my power," says Charlemagne, "he shall be 
 hung on high with no delay."^^ The answer of Aymon is 
 shrewd to the point of cunning, and in keeping with feudal 
 motives. 
 
 22 Quatre Fits Aymon, vv. 69-70. 
 
 8S 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 "Sire," says Aymon, "may God aid you therein. But know well, 
 emperor, that before you hold Aigremont and its gleaming towers, and 
 before you work your pleasure upon the duke, you will have lost so 
 many of your people that no man living will be able to count them, and 
 you yourself, king, will be sore afflicted thereby. For the duke is no 
 coward to flee basely; rather is he a bold and warlike knight, and has 
 many friends who will not fail to aid him in his direst need.''^^ 
 
 And by dint of such reasoning, without regard to the justice 
 of the matter, Charlemagne is tamed down to a less truculent 
 course of action. 
 
 In the succeeding division of the same poem, which properly 
 deals with the adventures of the four sons of Aymon, and is 
 distinct from the opening episode concerning the quarrel of the 
 emperor with Beuves d' Aigremont, the same method of rea- 
 soning is employed by the barons. Charlemagne has long per- 
 secuted the four sons of Aymon, and persists in his course in 
 spite of the fact that the sympathy of many of his barons 
 is with the oppressed sons. At last one of the barons appeals 
 to Charlemagne for peace in this fashion : 
 
 "Sire, hear my advice. You have declared your will : now I will tell 
 you something of my thought. You know how ably the counts have 
 withstood you. Richard and Alard are of the best blood in France, and 
 they are of a powerful family. They are relatives of Girard de Rous- 
 sillon, of Doon of Nanteuil ; the duke Beuves d'Aigremont was of their 
 family. And they are cousins of Richard of Ruem, and of Estolt, the 
 son of Odon. And Ogier and the archbishop Turpin are kinsmen of 
 theirs, and I myself, my lord. And you need never think that if any 
 of the four sons should come into our power, that I would hand them 
 over to you. No, not I, nor any of the others whom I have men- 
 tioned to you. For the love of God, king, make peace with them. 
 This war has lasted too long, and too many men have lost their lives." 
 
 When the king heard this, his blood ran hot, and his face reddened 
 like glowing charcoal. And he ground his teeth and shook his head, so 
 that there was not a man present, however powerful he might be, that 
 did not tremble.^* 
 
 The extremes to which the application of force might be 
 carried is well related in an episode in Girbert de Mets, where 
 
 28 Jbid., 74-84. 
 2* Ibid.. SS49-SS90. 
 
 86 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 in a factional fight that arises in the king's court, the queen 
 sympathizes with the Loherain family to the point of taking 
 an active part. 
 
 "And the queen did no small havoc, for she held in her hand a keen 
 sword, and when the wounded attempted to raise themselves up, the 
 queen struck from behind, and brought them down dead upon the 
 marble floor.^s 
 
 Some of the feudal epics are mere recitals of recourse to 
 violence. The chanson of Garin le Loherain is a series of suc- 
 cessive appeals to force of arms by two families in their strug- 
 gle for supremacy. Aye d' Avignon, Gui de Nanteuil, Aiol, are 
 replete with systematic violence finding vent in the duel, and 
 in organized treachery. The poem of Auberi le Bourgoing de- 
 pends for the chief action of its plot upon constant and un- 
 scrupulous exercise of physical superiority. 
 
 Against the predominance of force, there inhered even in 
 the barbarity of the tenth century certain ameliorating in- 
 fluences working for some sort of restraint of the crude spirit 
 of the people. First, of course, was the Church, which never 
 ceased from the earliest times throughout the whole history of 
 France to wield some stabilizing influence upon civil and 
 domestic life. The occasional instances of the interference of 
 the church in worldly matters that have come down in written 
 record, such as the treve de Dieu or the intervention in the 
 election of monarchs, by no means define the vast influence 
 that must have been exerted by the one unified, coordinated 
 organization of the age. Whether or not the weight of this 
 vast power was felt more in a civil than in a religious way, 
 the fact is not altered that no consideration of the history of 
 France can fail to recognize it. But possibly by reason of the 
 fact that the religious influence of the Church in feudal times 
 was rather intangible from the viewpoint of a man of that age, 
 there is little direct reflection of it in the feudal poetry. And 
 therefore this discussion is limited to the second of these two 
 
 25 Girbert de Metz, ed. Stengel (Romanische Studien, ed. Boehmer, 
 I, p. 521, Strassburg, 1875), laisse XX. Cf. similar scene in Aiol, ed. 
 Normand and Raynaud, Paris, 1877, vv. 5989 ff. 
 
 87 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 influences that tended towards the regulation of the appeal to 
 force. 
 
 This second power was the tradition of law that persisted 
 from the time of Charlemagne, even in the period of primitive 
 feudalism, when all the instruments of government used by 
 Charlemagne to enforce the law had crumbled away, or had 
 been diverted from the prerogatives of the crown. The con- 
 ception of this trend was embodied in the word loyautS; not 
 'loyalty' in the modern sense of constant faithfulness, but 
 rather in its etymological sense of regulation by law or custom. 
 One vital phase of this tendency was the custom of formal 
 disavowal of friendly relations that was supposed to precede 
 recourse to brute force and open hostility in its most savage 
 manifestations. 
 
 At the very beginning of the tenth century, the sources 
 show the existence of a custom known by the symbol festuca, 
 'a straw,' through which was consummated the severance of 
 friendly relations between homme and seigneur. The custom 
 of breaking allegiance through the symbolism of a straw was 
 connected in origin with the grant of a benefice by the same 
 symbol. Just as the straw given by the seigneur to his homme 
 was the token of the gift of a benefice, and later of a fief, so 
 the return of the straw to the seigneur by the vassal became 
 the sign of the renouncing of allegiance. 
 
 One of the earliest examples on record of the practice of this 
 custom is found in the Chronicle of Ademar, who relates an 
 incident in connection with the reign of Charles le Simple. 
 According to this account, in the year 920, 
 
 the leaders of the Franks, being assembled together in the accustomed 
 manner for the transacting of the public business of the kingdom, with 
 unanimous agreement, for the reason that king Charles was of ignoble 
 disposition, throwing straws from their hands, they rejected him, that 
 he might no longer be their lord : and they left him alone in the 
 midst of the field, being separated from him.^s 
 
 The ritual is identical in every instance where it is employed, 
 
 ^^ Ex Chronica Ademari Cabannensis, anno p^o {Recueil des his- 
 toriens des Gaules et de la France, VIII, p. 233, Paris, 1871). 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 except that sometimes a twig, or a rod, or blades of grass, etc., 
 are used in place of the straw." In the poem of Raoul de 
 Cambrai is found cm example of this early custom. Raoul has 
 struck his esquire Bernier with the piece of a broken spear, 
 thus forfeiting the right to retain Bernier in his service. Then 
 Bernier says : 
 
 "My lord Raoul, this our discussion is ended, by reason of the 
 wrong that you have done me." And from between the links of his 
 steel hauberk he took three tufts of ermine that he wore, and threw 
 them towards Raoul, and said "Fellow, I defy you ! Never say that I 
 have betrayed you."^* 
 
 Until the twelfth century, this procedure by symbol of the 
 festuca was restricted to the relations between seigneur and 
 homme. In this century, however, it began to have a wider 
 application, and with a more extended usage underwent a 
 change in terminology. From this time on, the custom was 
 known as des fiance, and the older symbol of the straw was 
 made use of only in a figurative sense, as in the modem ex- 
 pression, rompre la paille avec quelqu'un, which in Middle 
 French was rompre le festu avec quelqu'un.^' 
 
 Desfiance, from the Latin *diffidantia, the formal breaking of 
 faith or friendly relation between two men, in the twelfth and 
 thirteenth centuries in France obtained general recognition. 
 With the possible exception of homage, no other custom re- 
 ceives wider attention in feudal French literature than 
 desfiamce.^" Historical instances of the working of the custom 
 are related by Villehardouin,*^ Mouskes,^^ Beaumanoir,** and 
 Froissart.'* 
 
 27 Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalferthumer, 4th edition, Leipzig, 1899, I, 
 pp. 168-190. 
 
 28 Raoul de Cambrai, 2307-2318. 
 
 29 Cf . Pasquier, Recherches VIII, 58. 
 
 2"Cf. Du Cange, under diffidare, for other examples. 
 
 8^ Villehardouin, Conquete de Constantinople, ed. N. de Wailly, Paris, 
 1909, sec. 207-215. 
 
 32 Mouskes, Chronique rimee, 30852. 
 
 5* Beauraanoir, Coutumes du Beauvoisis, ed. Beugnot, Paris, 1842, 11, 
 sec. 1680. 
 
 s* Froissart, Chroniques, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, Bruxelles, 1868, 
 IV, p. 43. 
 
 89 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 One of the clearest examples of this usage is found in Ville- 
 hardouin, an episode of the year 1203. The emperor Alexis of 
 Constantinople had broken his word in regard to a promise 
 made to the French army. Then the barons held an assembly 
 and declared that the emperor would never keep his promise, 
 for never had he on any occasion told the truth. And they 
 resolved to send worthy messengers to demand that he keep 
 his word, and if he should not do so, he should be defied by 
 them. 
 
 For this message were chosen Conon de Bethune and 
 Geoffroi de Villehardouin, and other responsible men. And 
 they came into the palace, and into the court of the emperor, 
 and by the consent of the other messengers, Conon de Bethune 
 spoke thus: "Sire, we come to you on behalf of the French 
 army ; you have sworn to them, as has your father, to keep the 
 covenant that you have made with them, and they have your 
 written compact. They have required it of you oftentimes, and 
 we do require it of you again, that you keep the agreement 
 which is between them and you. If you do that, there is peace : 
 if you do it not, know that henceforth they will hold you 
 neither for lord nor for friend, but they will endeavor to 
 take what belongs to them by whatsoever means they may. 
 And they remind you that they do not to you nor to any other 
 man aught of harm before having defied him; for they have 
 never done treason, and in their country it is not the way of 
 men to do it. You have heard what we have said, and you 
 will take counsel to do as you please."^* 
 
 The heinousness of the sin of omitting desfiance is expressed 
 in a passage from the poem of Auheri, where the Duke of 
 Dijon confronts Anse'is, who had plotted against his life with- 
 out defying him : 
 
 The Duke looked at the wretched Anseis, turned towards him, and 
 spoke aloud: "Base traitor, you kissed me as my liegeman, and grave 
 
 35 Villehardouin, sec. 207-15. Cf. in this connection Lex Friderici 
 imperatoris, anno 1 186 (Burchardi et Cuonradi Urspergetisium 
 Chronicon, p. 65, ed. Pertz, Hannover, 1874) : Statuimm etiam et eodem 
 firmiter edicto sancimus, ut quicunque alii damnum facere laedere 
 ipsum intendat, tribus ad minus ante diebus per cerium nuncium suum 
 diffiduciet eum. 
 
 90 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 me shelter in order to deliver me over to Huedon; never man that 
 lived was guilty of such treason."S8 
 
 In the poem of the Quatre Fits Aymon, the two sons of 
 Forque challenge the two sons of Renaud on the allegation that 
 "their father killed ours without -making des fiance."^'' The 
 implication that with desfiance the act would have been legal 
 is borne out by a passage from the Gaydon, in which it is re- 
 lated how Hertaud, having received Ferraud as a guest, plans 
 to kill him. Hertaud discusses the plan with his wife : 
 
 And to her the proven traitor says : "Do you take this knight aside, 
 and talk with him, amuse him, until I am clad in my armor. This is 
 Ferraud, my mortal enemy, and, before God, I will not eat until I have 
 severed his limbs from him." 
 
 The lady hears him, and her visage is changed thereat. "Sir," says 
 she, "it would be disloyalty if you do him harm when you have lodged 
 him; you would be forever called a traitor. But do rightly in this 
 matter; give him back his armor, and set him on the road, then defy 
 him. You will incur no blame if after that you slay him.''^^ 
 
 In similar circumstances to the above, the poem of Aiol gives 
 an instance where a wife urges the observance of desfiaftce 
 even more forcibly. The husband has just stated his intention 
 of slaying his guest : 
 
 "What do you say, you devil incarnate? Have you gone mad? You 
 have lodged the barons in legal fashion, and have drunk and eaten 
 with them ! You will start a feud that will end by your being hanged 
 like a common robber, and your sons will be torn to pieces by horses, 
 and I will be burned alive. God confound them if they do not cut off 
 your head, unless you abandon your intention. By Saint Paul I shall 
 tell them. Though my limbs were severed from my body, I would not 
 consent to such treason."" 
 
 The causes for desfiance were numerous. In the Gaydon is 
 to be found another pretext sufficient for the purpose here. 
 
 38 Auberi, ed. Tobler, Leipzig, 1870, p. 240. Cf . Hugues Capet, ed La 
 Grange, Paris, 1864, v. 1050. Also Gerard de Rossillon, ed. Francisque- 
 Michel, Paris, 1856, p. 304, vv. 11-12. 
 
 37 Quatre Fils Aymon, 17291. 
 
 38 Gaydon, ed. Guessard and Luce, Paris, 1862, vv. 4235-4248. 
 
 39 Aiol, 7240-7256. 
 
 91 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 Gaydon wishes the king to drive the family of traitors from the 
 court, and Riol advises him : 
 
 "Sire, command king Charles to give into our hands the treacherous 
 family; let him banish them and confiscate their lands. And if he holds 
 them against your will, defy him, and renounce your homage."*" 
 
 Since private warfare in the earliest period of feudalism was 
 the privilege of every man, any cause that might arouse anger 
 between two men was occasion sufficient for desfiance. Ex- 
 amples of the usage are constantly at hand in the feudal poetry. 
 The absence of the procedure in any poem is evidence that 
 that poem is unusually primitive in composition. In this con- 
 nection it is to be noted that in regard to certain of the 
 chansons that in the preceding chapter have been indicated as 
 pre-feudal, the absence of desfiance confirms the opinion of 
 their age. There is no mention whatsoever of desfiance in the 
 Gormund et Isembard. In the Raoul de Cambrai, there is no 
 mention of desfiance before Raoul invades the Vermandois. 
 In fact, even after Raoul has laid waste much of their country, 
 the four sons of Herbert do not know that Raoul is advancing 
 upon them.*^ 
 
 In the Floovant, the verb form deffi occurs, but apparently 
 in the sense only of the modern 'defy' : upon attacking another 
 man, one warrior cries out "Straightway do I defy you with 
 my Turkish sword."*^ The case, however, is not so certain as 
 it is with regard to the Gormund et Isembard and the Raoul de 
 Cambrai, in which there can be no question as to the absence of 
 any reference to desfiance. 
 
 When desfiance had been regularly made, the results, as a 
 general rule, might be of three kinds : ( i ) private warfare ; 
 (2) individual execution of vengeance; (3) the duel. 
 
 War was the outcome of the instance related by Ville- 
 hardouin. Likewise, in the Beuves d'Aigremont, the opening 
 
 *" Gaydon, 3082-3087. 
 
 *i Cf. Raoul de Cambrai, 2305. Raoul says : Ne lor faut guerre, de 
 ma part les desfif This is not desfiance, but merely insolence on the 
 part of Raoul, being said after Raoul has engaged in active hostility 
 against the four sons of Herbert. 
 
 "Floovant, 1157. 
 
 92 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 episode of the Quatre FUs Aymon, a messenger sent by the 
 king announces to Beuves that if he fail to pay homage as 
 demanded, a state of war is to exist forthwith.*^ 
 
 The second fashion of procedure, that of individual ven- 
 geance, might take form in the murder of one of the parties, 
 as in the Auberi, where Gascelin comes upon his enemy to slay 
 him as he prays.** And Gascelin is adjudged guiltless. 
 
 A third result manifests that resort to force which is in- 
 separably identified with the feudal epoch. Particularly in the 
 cases of personal injury, or the challenging of a witness, 
 desfiance was very apt to be followed by a duel between the 
 two men, though not necessarily. 
 
 The historical duel is well illustrated by the following ex- 
 ample from the Wiponis Vita Chuonradi, in the year 1033.*° 
 According to this account, 
 
 between the Saxons and the pagans at that time, fighting and raids 
 were being carried on incessantly, and when the emperor came to 
 investigate, he began to inquire which side had first broken the peace 
 that had long been observed inviolate between them. The pagans said 
 that the peace had first been disturbed by the Saxons, and they would 
 prove this by the duel, if the emperor would so direct. On the other 
 hand the Saxons pledged themselves to refute the pagans in like 
 manner by single combat, though as a matter of fact their contention 
 was tmtrue. The emperor after consulting his lords permitted the 
 matter to be settled between them by a duel. 
 
 Two champions, each selected by his own side, immediately engaged. 
 Finally the Christian fell wounded by the pagan. Thereupon his party 
 was seized with such presumption and elation, that, had the emperor 
 not been present, they would forthwith have rushed upon the 
 Christians.*^ 
 
 One of the earliest poetry indications of this duel is found 
 in the Floovant. This seems to be prior to the period of formal 
 
 *3 Quatre FUs Aymon, 214-238. Cf. Fierabras, ed. Guessard, Paris, 
 i860, vv. 5479 ff. 
 
 *^ Auberi, ed. Tarbe, pp. 117 fl. 
 
 *6 Wiponis Vita Chuonradi (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 
 Scriptores, XI, p. 271, cap. 33, anno 1033). 
 
 *8 Cf . Pfefler, Die Formalit'dten des gottesgerichtlichen Zweikampfs 
 in der altfranzosischen Epik (Zeitschrift fUr romanische Literatttr, IX, 
 1885, pp. 1-74). This is an excellent analysis of the judicial duel, with 
 citation of poetical examples for each phase. 
 
 93 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 desfiance, but the conception that might is the sole arbiter, is 
 very evidently revealed in the readiness of the aggrieved party 
 to place reliance on the duel for just amend. 
 
 In this poetical example of the trust in strength, a warrior, 
 Richier, is depicted as having unwittingly slain the son of his 
 host. The host, Emelons, charges his guest : 
 
 "Vassal, you have villainously treated me; I only had one dear son, 
 and through your pride you have slain him. Forthwith shall I cut your 
 limbs from your body."*^ 
 
 Richier pleads his innocence of any evil intent : 
 
 "By the faith that I owe you,'' says Richier, "I will not lie to you. 
 This morning I was wandering through the forest when I met a knight 
 who rode towards me with a strong following. So insolent was he that 
 he would not speak with me, but struck me a great blow upon my shield, 
 and be assured I struck him back straightway. But know you that 
 I killed him against my will, for otherwise he had slain me."*^ 
 
 When Emelons hears that, he knows not what he should say, 
 then he bespeaks Richier after this wise, "Vassal, will you stand proof 
 that you are right?" 
 
 "Yes," says Richier ; and they give mutual pledge that the battle shall 
 take place with no delay.*' 
 
 In the fray that follows, Emelons is defeated, and when his 
 life is spared, he promptly yields to the justice incident to the 
 trial by arms. 
 
 "Vassal," says Emelons, "you are a right worthy man, and your 
 great valor has subdued my pride. Assuredly, friend, I pardon you the 
 death of my dear son."'" 
 
 In the Aye d' Avignon, mortal enmity is aroused between 
 Berengier and Garnier when the king gives to Garnier a wife 
 whom Berengier also coveted before her marriage. Berengier 
 persuades a kinsman of his, Amauguin, to charge Gamier with 
 treason.''^ 
 
 *^ Floovant, 1046-1049. 
 
 «8/6i'd., 1060-1068. 
 
 *°Ibid., 1087-1093. 
 
 '^° Ibid., 1191-1194. 
 
 51 Cf . the duel in Garin le Loherain, H, pp. 25 ff. 
 
 94 
 
PHASES OP FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 And Amauguin commenced his speech thus: "Emperor, hear what 
 we shall tell you. My brother and I were seated on the marble steps 
 at Verberie, when Gamier began to say to us, 'My lords, what shall 
 we do? This king is exceedingly base and treacherous, and is a cow- 
 ardly and senseless knave ; right little of our ancestral fiefs has he left 
 us. I am like to slay him in the presence of the whole army, or in 
 forest or river, or where else we may.' "^2 
 
 Then the king made the counts to come before him," and in 
 this official court, the accusation is repeated against Gamier, 
 the false charge being made this time by Auboin, another one 
 of the epic Family of Traitors. And when Auboin ceases to 
 speak. 
 
 Gamier replies, "Treacherous enemy, if I live and God help me, I will 
 make you take back your slander."^* 
 
 Then they give their pledges, and the king receives them.'' 
 The exact nature of these pledges is shown with more detail 
 in the description of a similar scene in Gaydon, when Gaydon 
 stands before Charlemagne accused falsely of treason. 
 
 "Vassal," says Charlemagne, "give me your hostages and delay not; 
 else harm will come to you of it. I will have your right hand cut off, 
 with which you gave me your pledge.''^^ 
 
 Here the word for pledge, godge, is the same as in the preced- 
 ing passage from the Aye d' Avignon. This pledge, or gaige, is 
 merely some formal token of the challenge, for example a 
 glove. But as the instance in the Gaydon shows, it had to be 
 followed with the giving of hostages. In the Gaydon passage 
 under discussion, Charlemagne continues thus : 
 
 "Whoever goes hostage for you risks being torn asunder, and his 
 body burned and cast to the winds." And when the French heard 
 their lord threaten so, not one speaks, except those upon whom it is 
 a necessity to offer themselves, namely, the vassals of Gaydon bound 
 to him by reason of the fiefs they hold of him. 
 
 ^^ Aye d' Avignon, 233-249. 
 
 '5 Ibid., 259-260. 
 
 "/6irf., 280-281. 
 
 55 Ihid., 282. 
 
 5« Gaydon, 625-659. 
 
 95 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 So Rispeus of Nantes, and Joiffrois, and Guy de Biaufort, and the 
 valiant Riol step forward and offer themselves as hostages, saying, 
 "Sire, take us as pledge, first upon our fiefs, and then upon our lives; 
 for if he is vanquished we wish to live no longer." 
 
 But Charlemagne replies, "Stand back! You are all his liege-men, 
 and a man who is accused of treason cannot offer his vassal in hostage." 
 
 Finally Naynmon of Bavaria ofiEers himself as hostage, and 
 Charlemagne replies : 
 "Naynmon, it shall be as you will."^' 
 
 After either side have given their hostages to the king, it is 
 agreed that the battle will be on the morrow, for the pledges 
 have been duly given.^* 
 
 Until the battle takes place, both men are under the most 
 strict surveillance. More than ever are they held to account 
 with regard to the congie, or obligation devolving upon them 
 to secure permission to leave the court of the king, or superior 
 lord, no matter what the occasion might be. This custom of 
 requesting congie was in effect at all times, but doubly so in a 
 moment like this, when a man was considered guilty of treach- 
 erous intent if he departed from the court without formal per- 
 mission being sought and granted. In the Gaydon is shown 
 how serious the offense was of waiving congie. Renaud ex- 
 presses the king's will in these words : 
 
 "Charlemagne summons Gaydon to come to him at Paris, and beg his 
 mercy, and amend that in which he has done wrong. For he departed 
 rashly from his court without requesting congie."°' 
 
 In the Raoul de Cambrai, the setting aside congie is equiva- 
 lent to a declaration of war. Bemier, insulted by Raoul, cries : 
 
 "Bring me my arms and my hauberk, my good sword and my helmet ! 
 From this court I depart without congie!"*" 
 
 And straightway Bernier goes over to the hostile camp, and 
 engages in war with Raoul. 
 
 »' Ibid., 718-722. 
 
 ^^ Aye d' Avignon, 282. 
 
 '^^ Gaydon, 3146-3154. 
 
 ^° Raoul de Cambrai, 1725-1727. 
 
 96 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 After hostages had been given, and the duel arrranged for 
 the next day, the next step in the procedure incident to the 
 duel was the watching and praying in the church. In Aye 
 d'Avignon is related how 
 
 Gamier keeps his watch, and the bishop Morise chants the mass, 
 and Gamier makes a gift to the church of a hundred pieces of silver.^^^ 
 
 After the church service the two warriors each swear on the 
 sacred relics that his cause is just. The account of the cere- 
 mony of oath-taking in the duel of the two sons of Forque 
 with the two sons of Renaud in the Qimtre Fils Aymon is 
 especially relevant: 
 
 "My lords, you must now swear upon the sacred relics, for such is 
 the law.'' Then the traitors come forward and kneel, and swear by the 
 sacred relics that Renaud killed their father through treason. Then 
 kiss they the relics, and arise and turn back. But even as they turn, 
 they both stagger, and the whole court sees them come nigh to fall- 
 ing, save that they bear each other up. And Roland says to those who 
 behold it "Surely this is a poor pledge of victory." 
 
 Then the two sons of Renaud come forward, and kiss the relics, and 
 swear that the sons of Forque have lied concerning this treason. And 
 they arise upright, and go back."^^ 
 
 In the morning arrangements are made for the duel. The 
 field of combat is guarded by a hundred of the king's men, to 
 prevent interference by one side or the other. In the historical 
 instance cited above from the Wipoms Vita Chuonradi, there 
 is shown the danger that one side may rush to the assistance 
 of their champion, or may follow up his victory with a general 
 onslaught. So in the body of the feudal poetry, the duel that is 
 not interrupted by treachery of one of the parties is an 
 exception.^^ 
 
 In the chanson of Gaydon elaborate preliminaries take place 
 on either side with this object in view. The passage in question 
 relates how 
 
 <^'^Aye d'Avignon, 344-346. Cf. Auberi, ed. Tarbe, p. 138, vv. 6ff. 
 
 62 Quatre Fils Aymon, 17293-17317. 
 
 63 Cf . Gui de Nanteuil, ed. Meyer, Paris, 1861, 1093 if. 
 
 97 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 Guy d'Autefoille assembles a hundred of the Family of Traitors, 
 who plan to set an ambush of a thousand men so that if they see their 
 champion, Guion, defeated in the conflict, they may rush forth and 
 slay his opponent, Ferraud.^* 
 
 Likewise the friends of Ferraud in their turn prepare for 
 the combat. Riol summons his friends : 
 
 "Let us take two thousand men, and ambush them in yonder woods. 
 And when Ferraud fights his duel, if any other than Guion do him 
 harm, we will aid him without delay."^^ 
 
 In the Aye d' Avignon, however, no formalities occur prior to 
 the duel, but when it becomes evident to the traitors that their 
 champion is on the verge of defeat, they are not loath to lend 
 him aid. 
 
 Achard and Hondre, who were his kinsmen, rush into the field with 
 thirty of their men. And they had slain Gamier straightway, were it 
 not for the king's guards, who are more than a hundred. For they 
 quickly engage the traitors, slay twenty-two of them, and cast the re- 
 maining eight into prison.*' 
 
 Thereupon the duel is resumed. Gamier is victorious, and 
 Auboin pleads guilty : 
 
 "Strike me not again, gentle lord, and I will confess the whole 
 treason."67 
 
 Then king Charles, who as lord of both men has ultimate 
 authority, passes judgment in this wise : 
 
 "Barons, take this knave, and the eight men from the prison, who 
 charged Garnier with treason, and wished to kill him; for it is but 
 right that each of them shall have his reward.'''^ 
 
 After which Auboin and the eight survivors of those who 
 intervened on his behalf are put to death. 
 
 The account of this duel in the Aye d' Avignon is not explicit 
 
 »* Gaydon, 5782-5796. Cf . Gut de Nanteuil. 966 fiE. 
 
 °5 Gaydon, 6317-6324. 
 
 ^^ Aye d' Avignon, 635-646. 
 
 «^ Ihid., 673-674. 
 
 "^Ibid., 713-717. 
 
 98 
 
PHASES OF FEUDAL CUSTOM 
 
 as regards the fate of the hostages. The customary procedure 
 is indicated, however, in the Gaydon, where the traitors save 
 the lives of the bondsmen only by bribing the king with rich 
 presents. 
 
 The purpose of the present chapter, as in the case of the 
 preceding, has been to point out the parallel between the 
 historical data and the early French poetic material. 
 
 If feudalism in England was in general limited to the em- 
 ployment of the land tenure system, and in Germany, Italy, 
 and Spain (or perhaps better Aragon) , emphasized chiefly the 
 political independence of the barons, in France feudalism at- 
 tained more than in all these countries a normal and unhindered 
 development. Therefore the feudal poetry of France, reveal- 
 ing an intimate portraiture of the private life of the period, 
 aflfords the most valuable field of investigation in literature of 
 the workings of the social forces of feudalism. 
 
 99 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The result of this study of the French Feudal Epic is as 
 follows: With every succeeeding phase of the investigation 
 has become more evident the sharp distinction that must be 
 drawn between the purely Feudal Epic and the National Epic 
 on one side, and the romans d'aventure at the other extreme. 
 During the course of the study, the poems that have been 
 chosen as most feudal have ranged in three groups, similar to 
 the three- fold distinction just made. In the first group are the 
 pre-feudal poems in which the royal element predominates — 
 that is, they lead out from the purely feudal poetry in the di- 
 rection of the Roland. These pre-feudal poems that verge to- 
 wards the royal are the following : the Floovcmt, the Couronne- 
 ment de Louis, the Beuves d'Aigremont, and the Gormimd et 
 Isembard. 
 
 In the second group are the purely feudal poems of the 
 tenth and eleventh centuries, the period of the full vigor of 
 feudalism before the influence of the Christian element of 
 Chivalry had begun to make itself felt: in this group are the 
 Auberi le Bourgoing, the Raoul de Cambrm, the Cycle of Garin 
 le Loherain, including the Garin, Mort Garin, Gerbert de Metz, 
 and Anseis de Metz. 
 
 The third group contains the poems of the twelfth century, 
 representing the later feudal period, and verging into the 
 romoM d'aventure and the romance of chivalry. In this third 
 group the following have been studied : Aye d' Avignon, Quatre 
 Fils Aymon, Aiol, Gerard de Rossillon, Ogier, Guy de Nanteuil, 
 Guy de Bourgogne, Otinel, Gaydon, Hervis de Metz. In addi- 
 
 100 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 tion to these poems, a survey has been made of various others 
 which have been deemed too far removed from the feudal 
 spirit to come strictly within the range of this study, except in- 
 cidentally, where in them earlier elements were to be found. 
 
 The first point, then, that has been emphasized, is the differ- 
 ence in style, treatment, and most important, in material, of 
 the pure feudal epic as contrasted with the royal and roman 
 d'aventure groups. The feudal group excels by far the remain- 
 der of the French epic poetry in vraisemhlance, in every detail 
 of representation of the life and manners of the age in which 
 it was composed, in custom and institution, in geography and 
 political content. The fact cannot be too clearly brought out 
 that the impression of unreliability gained justly from the 
 greater mass of the poetry, the roman d'aventure type espe- 
 cially, is erroneous when applied to the feudal poetry. The 
 feudal poetry does not concern itself, any more than the 
 National and aventure poetry, with any conscious attempt to 
 reproduce historical characters and events in their true propor- 
 tion. But the feudal poems do what the others do not : they 
 unconsciously portray — and precisely because of the uncon- 
 scious nature of the genre they portray in simplicity and artless 
 accuracy — the different phases of life prevailing in the tenth 
 and eleventh centuries. 
 
 Finally, there has been emphasized one other feature peculiar 
 to the feudal poetry alone. The feudal poetry is a direct out- 
 growth of the epoch in which it originated. That is to say, not 
 solely of the time at which it was formally arranged in verse 
 and fixed in something like the form in which we have it. That 
 period indeed is meant, but the true origin is not limited so 
 closely. The feudal poetry reflects the exact epoch in which it 
 was composed; it also represents the period prior to its com- 
 position by some twenty-five to fifty years. In other words, it 
 is the unconscious reaction of the poet to his environment, 
 both at the time of writing, and also including the sum total 
 of the experiences of his life among the people of whom he 
 wrote. For he wrote of his contemporaries. What significance 
 is there in the fact that he gave them names imaginary, or 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 out of the dim traditions of the past? The poet who composed 
 toward the end of the tenth century called his king Charle- 
 magne, perhaps, but his model was Hugues Capet. And though 
 the names of the barons came down, some of them, from the 
 seventh or eighth century, the living men described by the 
 poet were the rebellious nobles of the "reign of Hugues Capet. 
 When the poet depicts Charlemagne in despicable, contempti- 
 ble weakness, he is only picturing the feeble king whom he 
 saw at the mercy of his vassals. The accuracy of the feudal 
 epic with respect to social institutions discloses, as no analogy 
 with historical events could do, the fact that the poet drew 
 men as he saw them. This is in sharp contrast with the vague 
 and romantic treatment of the later romans d'aventure. 
 
 Consider these two points in their relation to each other : the 
 feudal poetry is an accurate and unconscious portrayal; it is 
 likewise a portrayal of the period of its composition, and of 
 the years immediately preceding. So much has been shown con- 
 clusively by the present study. The conclusion is obvious : if the 
 manners and institutions can be assigned definitely to certain 
 epochs in the social and political development of France as 
 recorded in the chronicles and other historical documents, the 
 poems fixed in these periods by the direct reflection they give 
 of the society in which they originated may be dated with 
 greater accuracy than by the study of manuscripts and the 
 search for parallel historical events. Such has been the re- 
 sult of the present investigation. Its bearing on the poems 
 may be mentioned in resume as follows. These poems have 
 been mentioned above in three groups, according to the degree 
 of their feudal content : the listing here is made in four groups, 
 with reference to the age of each poem. 
 
 In the ninth century were composed Floovant, Couron- 
 nement de Louis, Bewves d'Aigremont, Gormund et Isembard. 
 In the tenth century were composed Raoul de Cambrai and 
 Auberi le Bourgoing. In the first half of the eleventh cen- 
 tury are to be placed Garin le Loherain, and Mort Garin; and, 
 in the last half of the same century, Gerbert de Metz, and 
 Anse'is de Mets. The poems of the twelfth century, in ap- 
 
 102 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 proximate order of composition, are the following: Aye 
 d'Avignon, Quatre Fits Aymon, Aiol, Gerard de Rossillon, 
 Ogier, Guy de Nanteuil, Guy de Bourgogne, Otmel, Gaydon, 
 Hervis de Metz. 
 
 II 
 
 By way of summing up, it is pertinent to devote a few words 
 to the bearing of this study on the hypothesis developed by M. 
 Joseph Bedier in his work entitled Les Legendes epiques, the 
 first of the four volumes having appeared in 1908, and the last 
 in 1913 (second edition, vol. I, 1914) ). Bedier's work has been 
 reviewed, of course, but prior to this time there has been made 
 no new systematic analysis of the material of the French epic 
 with regard to its bearing on Bedier's hypothesis. To make 
 such an investigation has been the object of the present study. 
 A few words are therefore apposite with regard to the relation 
 of the conclusions reached in this study to the validity of 
 Bedier's argument. 
 
 At the outset, as a basis for the discussion, the broad lines 
 of Bedier's hypothesis may be summarized as follows: The 
 most ancient chansons de geste, those which have a true his- 
 torical foundation in the remote past, do not go back by an un- 
 broken tradition of epic chansons to the time, or nearly to the 
 epoch, of the events they recount. So much of Bedier's work 
 is purely negative — ^he discredits the theory generally held 
 (almost without exception) until Bedier produced his Legendes 
 epiques. This is undoubtedly the most valuable part of the 
 work. In it Bedier attacks opinions that have existed without 
 sufficient raison d'etre, that have become fixed merely because- 
 of their traditional authority. He shows plainly the weakness, 
 of the grandiose conception of the cantilene, and stimulates 
 new interest in the subject. There remains to be considered 
 the system that Bedier has attempted to establish in the place 
 of the theory he has discredited. Having determined to his 
 satisfaction that there is in the poetry no element, save some 
 historical analogy, which need go back of the twelfth century 
 for explanation, Bedier sets out to seek "dans la vie du XH' 
 
 103 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 siecle des circonstances et des conditions propres a expliquer 
 la formation de la legende." These "circonstances" Bedier 
 finds in the pilgrimages to holy places, and in the Church fairs, 
 both springing up in sudden vigor about the end of the eleventh 
 century. And the chansons de geste originated then, in the 
 twelfth century, or at the earliest, the end of the eleventh, being 
 composed by jongleurs who made their living best along the 
 pilgrimage routes, and at the Church fairs: and the material, 
 or at any rate the historical element of it, was furnished to the 
 jongleurs by the monks who wished to advertise their shrines 
 to the pilgrims and fairgoers. 
 
 First a few words as to the method by which Bedier clears 
 the field to make room for his theory. I quote from G. Huet 
 -who has given a keen analysis of the subject in the Moyen-Age 
 for 1908, and again in the number of 1913 : "D'abord, I'auteur 
 ■semble considerer la theorie qu'il combat, celle de chants 
 epiques, transmettant aux homtnes du XI' siecle le souvenir 
 d'evenements du temps de Charlemagne ou meme anterieurs, 
 sinon comme absolument chimerique, du moins comme d'une 
 invraisemblance extreme, comme une hypothese a laquelle il ne 
 faudrait avoir recours que dans des cas absolument desesperes, 
 tous les autres moyens d'explication faisant defaut. Cette 
 mefiance me semble exageree. Un chant epique, une fois qu'il 
 existe, peut avoir la vie dure : on sait que des chants du cycle 
 des Niebelungen vivaient encore, dans la bouche du peuple, 
 aux lies Feroe, dans le premier quart du XIX° siecle."^ 
 
 Although Bedier has set forth his work in the form of an 
 hypothesis, he closes the door to the investigations of others 
 in no undecided way: "L'ere des recherches doit etre tenue 
 pour close ou elle ne le sera jamais."^ Apropos of which H. 
 Suchier suggests : "Auch war wohl der Wunsch der Vater des 
 Gedankens, wenn Bedier die Vermutung ausspricht 'L'ere des 
 recherches doit etre tenue pour close ou elle ne le sera jamais' ; 
 ich glaube jenes nicht, halte vielmehr die zweite Alternative 
 fiir richtig. Trotz Bediers spottender Kritik wird wahrschein- 
 
 1 Moyen Age, 1908, p. 339. 
 ^Legendes epiques, I, 17 (2d ed.). 
 
 104 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 lich noch manche frappante Ahnlichkeit zwischen Geschichte 
 und Dichtung gefunden werden, je tiefer in die Geschichte 
 eingedrungen und je mehr von Chansontexten ans Licht be- 
 fordert wird."^ It is with the belief so expressed by Suchier 
 that the present study has been taken up, a study that the 
 writer hopes to continue in the future with greater detail, 
 when time permits. 
 
 For the present there may be suggested a few points in 
 which Bedier has reached conclusions on insufficient evidence, 
 or has failed to anticipate difficulties that oppose his hypothe- 
 sis. Our view must be limited, but within even so small a com- 
 pass may be shown enough to suggest what will be the nature 
 of a more searching study of the material. 
 
 At the outset of volume III. (p. 4), Bedier inquires: "Pour- 
 quoi des poetes du XII° siecle ont-ils pris pour heros de leurs 
 romans des hommes morts depuis tant de siecles?" In this 
 question, says Bedier, "tient tout le probleme de I'origine des 
 chansons de geste." The problem is not of such sweeping 
 importance with regard to the origin, or the age of the poetry. 
 Would Bedier also ask why the modern novel writers some- 
 times make use of historical material? Would he ask why 
 Vergil put his epic in antiquity? Was Homer an eye-witness 
 of the deeds he narrates ? The historical epic is the customary 
 form, while an epic composed by a contemporary of the events; 
 narrated is rare.* Bedier's question is of no import in con- 
 nection with the problem of the origin of the poetry. 
 
 In similar fashion Bedier discusses reworkings of the epic 
 material.^ There is no apparent connection with the formation. 
 This may be considered an epitome of Bedier's work : it is the 
 period of the renewing and modification in the twelfth century 
 that he has mistaken for the time of the formation of the epic 
 poetry. To quote Tavernier: "Vier Bande voller Sagen sollen 
 nur das Interesse der Ependichter des 12. Jahrhunderts an 
 den Helden der Merowinger- und Karolingerzeit begriin- 
 
 3 Zeitschrift fUr romanische Philologie, XXXII, 1908, 736-737. 
 * Cf. W. Tavernier, Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 
 CXXXI, 1913, pp. 187-188. 
 5 Vol. Ill, pp. 140 ff. 
 
 105 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 den; aber das erklart sich ohne Sagen besser und einfacher, 
 wenn das Interesse fuhlsamer Dichterseelen fiir grosse und 
 tapfere Menschen auch der Vergangenheit iiberhaupt einer 
 'Erklarung' bedarf . . . vier Bande vol! Legendes epiques, 
 um das Interesse gebildeter Dichter an Personlichkeiten wie 
 Karl dem Grossen zu erklaren !'* "D'autre part," says. G. Huet, 
 discussing the same matter, "il est certain que I'epopee peut, 
 d'elle-meme et sans secours exterieurs, conserver le souvenir de 
 personnages et de faits historiques. C'est ainsi que — fait bien 
 connu, mais particulierement frappant pour le probleme qui 
 nous occupe — Theodoric le Grand a ete celebre, sous le nom de 
 Dietrich von Bern, par I'epopee allemande durant tout le 
 moyen-age ; le Hildebrantslied, que les germanistes placent au 
 VIII° siecle, garde le souvenir de sa lutte contre Odoacre. Ce 
 n'est certainement pas I'figlise qui s'est chargee de perpetuer, 
 par des pelerinages et des exhibitions de reliques, la memoire 
 de ce roi, pilier de I'Arianisme."^ 
 
 Huet concludes (p. 343) that "les faits reunis par M. B. 
 prouvent que, des une epoque tres ancienne, clercs et moines 
 d'un cote, jongleurs de I'autre, se sont entendus pour exploiter 
 les traditions carolingiennes ; mais ils ne prouvent pas, avec 
 une certitude absolue, que I'origine premiere de ces traditions 
 fut clericale ou monastique, les mentions d'eglises ou de mona- 
 steres ayant pu etre introduites dans les chansons apres coup, 
 lors du renouvellement du texte primitif." In similar fashion 
 E. Bourciez, in the Revue critique,^ expresses his conviction 
 that Bedier does demonstrate that the action in certain poems 
 may be localized with some exactness, as in the Raoul about 
 the church of Saint-Geri, and the monasteries of Cambresis 
 or of Vermandois. Also that Bedier shows in regard to the 
 chansons de geste dealing with Italy, that out of ninety names 
 of towns mentioned, seventy are on the Via francigena; the 
 others are fantastic names impossible to localize, or names of 
 a few great cities that no one could fail to know, even with- 
 
 * Cf. Tavernier, supra, pp. 210-21 1. 
 '' Moyen Age, 1908, p. 340. 
 8 LXVII, 1909, pp. 72-73. 
 
 106 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 out having passed that way. Also, in the large towns, such as 
 Naples or Milan, there is no important action; if they are 
 mentioned, it is in an incidental and vague manner. It is 
 therefore impossible, says Bourciez, to deny the close con- 
 nection between the romams and "le grand mouvement de la 
 foi religieuse qui entraina les pelerins au moyen age." In our 
 opinion the last statement should be qualified somewhat: it is 
 impossible to deny the close relation between the knowledge of 
 geography, particularly outside of France, with the increas- 
 ing prominence of the pilgrimage routes at the beginning of 
 the twelfth century. And the connection is closer than had 
 been realized before Bedier — the connection, that is, of the 
 poems written after the year iioo with the view of exploiting 
 pilgrimages and fairs. But in the light of the present investi- 
 gation, the theory of this connection in no wise holds true, for 
 the ten poems certainly composed prior to the end of the 
 eleventh century, namely, the following: Floovant, Beuves 
 d'Aigremont, Couronnement de Louis, Gormund et Isembard, 
 Raoul de Cambrai, Auberi le Bourgoing, Garin le Loherain, 
 Mart Garin, Gerbert de Metz, Anseis de Metz. The geograph- 
 ical details in the above poems depend on no pilgrimage 
 routes. 
 
 On the other hand, there are certain centers of fairs, as the 
 church of Saint-Geri at Cambrai in the Raoul de Cambrai. To 
 consider this typical example for a moment : just what is the 
 significance of the frequent mention of the church of Saint- 
 Geri in this poem? In the first place the poem discusses no 
 saints and no relics. It is the versified narration of a tradition 
 of the general Picard district, centered at Cambrai especially, 
 but also at Saint-Quentin and Origny. The details of the 
 geography are exact. The poet probably lived in the district: 
 at least he is intimately acquainted with the region. Suppose 
 that he had no interest in the church. Would it be remarkable 
 that in the narration of a story traditional in the neighborhood 
 he should cast a part of the action around the village church ? 
 It does not seem surprising or in need of being explained, when 
 the nature of the events connected with the church is consid- 
 
 107 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 ered. The marriage service, the burial service, the vigil on the 
 night before a duel, are things properly to be performed in a 
 church, and such are the usual church elements. In the poem 
 of Raoul de Cambrai account should be taken, in addition, of 
 the availability of Geri as a rime word — the rime in i being 
 very facile, if not the most so. It seems more probable there- 
 fore that the church is mentioned because it is in the Cambresis 
 district than that the action of the poem is in the Cambresis 
 district because the church was there. Bedier himself admits 
 with reference to one poem that the church probably was not 
 the originator of the legend; that the monks of Saint- Faron 
 began celebrating the tomb of an Ogier only after Ogier had 
 become famous in the chanson which bears his name." Fur- 
 thermore, if the poem was to celebrate the church, it might 
 reasonably be expected that the poet would relate the life of 
 Saint-Geri, or some other legend of saintly tradition. Not 
 necessarily in this single instance perhaps, but it is a note- 
 worthy fact that in the whole body of the epic poetry, the poem 
 celebrating supposedly a certain church, the resting place of a 
 saint, or saintly relics, never recounts the life of the saint in 
 question or the story of the relics, but always the deeds of 
 some local hero — and frequently heroes little worthy of being 
 perpetuated in memory by the church. Raoul de Cambrai, the 
 brutal, savage, untamed warrior, the desecrator of the church, 
 and murderer of devoted nuns — this is the hero whose vile 
 deeds inspired, Bedier insists, the monks of Cambrai to per- 
 petuate his memory in a chanson of praise, with scarce the 
 suggestion of condemnation for his heathen savagery. There 
 is no need of explanation, however, when it is admitted that 
 the part the church plays in the poem is only an incidental 
 result of the locality in which it is found." 
 
 This problem of the towns that are not on pilgrimage routes 
 and yet play a conspicuous part in the poetry, is met ingeni- 
 ously by Bedier, but not with entire success. Aix-la-Chapelle 
 and Paris are mentioned, for instance, because of the presence 
 
 ° LSgendes Spiques, II, 293. 
 
 10 Cf. G. Huet, Moyen Age, 1913, pp. 427-8. 
 
 108 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 in these towns of relics that Charlemagne was supposed to 
 have brought from the Orient, the memory of which was to be 
 perpetuated by the chansons composed for the occasion. The 
 inevitable exception is the city of Laon, which also plays an 
 important part in the poetry as one of Charlemagne's capitals. 
 And it is to be constantly kept in mind that by the nature of 
 Bedier's hypothesis a single exception to the rule is fatal to 
 the whole structure. Bedier maintains that each individual 
 poem conforms to his theory, that each tradition came into 
 poetic form through the monkish and jongleuresque collabora- 
 tion. Now, in many of the chansons de geste Charlemagne 
 and Louis le Debonnaire hold their court at Laon. Laon is not 
 mentioned, as are Aix-la-Chapelle and Paris, with reference 
 to the relics distributed by Charlemagne; on the other hand, 
 Laon was the capital, in the tenth century, of the last of the 
 Carolingians. It follows that there was a direct tradition 
 deriving from the epoch when the Carolingians actually had 
 Laon for Capital. Thus is further indicated the failure of 
 Bedier's general conclusions when applied to particular 
 instances.^^ 
 
 A flaw in the Bedier hypothesis that cannot be explained 
 away is pronounced in convincing terms by W. Foerster in his 
 review of the work:^^ "Wie ist dies moglich, da die altesten 
 Epen (Roland und Willame), die sicher spatestens ins gute 
 II. Jahrh. fallen, uns bereits in einem sehr uberarbeiteten, arg 
 zugerichteten Zustand mehrfacher Umarbeitung tiberkommen 
 sind! Da miissen sie doch vor dieser Zeit langst bestanden 
 haben. Noch mehr, diese altesten Epen zeigen bereits eine 
 ganz ausgebildete, feststehende Technik, eigene epischen Stil 
 auf, alles Dinge, die nicht auf einmal von selbst entstehen, 
 sondern nur das Ergebnis einer langen, langsamen, allmah- 
 lichen Entwicklung, die viel langer als ein Jahrhundert sein 
 muss, sein konnen. Es ist ganz sicher anzunehmen, dass der 
 so griindliche, vorsichtige und scharfsinnige Verfasser diese 
 Schwierigkeiten auch seinerseits empfunden haben muss. Er 
 
 " Cf. ibid., p. 431. 
 
 12 Literarisches Centralblatt fiir Deutschland, igo8, 27 Juni. 
 
 109 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE iIN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 erwahnt sie zwar nirgends, aber er muss sich wohl mit ihnen 
 abgefunden haben, da er sonst seine ikonoklastische Hypothese 
 nicht mit solchem Riesenapparat in die Welt gesetzt hatte."^' 
 
 In such instances as the above, Professor Bedier would 
 seem to have cleverly avoided the discussion of considerations 
 damaging to his own theory. He is not ever3rwhere so success- 
 ful, however. In his last volume (IV, 364 ff.) he gives a list 
 of personnages of the chansons de geste. Consider the first 
 group of names, twelve great personnages "dont il est in- 
 different de localiser ici ou la la legende," says Bedier. The 
 poets got their impression "au hasard de leurs conversations, de 
 leurs lectures, de leurs promenades" (IV, 380). "De leurs 
 lectures"! But Bedier has already assured us (p. 368) that 
 "nos romanciers etaient gens de mediocre culture, et il est in- 
 admissible, nous le reconnaissons pleinement, qu'ils aient ex- 
 trait des chroniques latines les materiaux de leurs romans." 
 But pass the contradiction to consider what manner of men 
 these jongleurs must have been. They spent their afternoons 
 whiling away the time reading books on the life of Charle- 
 magne and Charles Martel; they were antiquarians who bor- 
 rowed a story here and there from the monks, or bribed some 
 cleric for a few hours use of the church records, talked of the 
 accounts found in these Latin chronicles on their evening 
 walks — and suddenly, in the year 1 100 or thereabouts, com- 
 posed a series of poetic works, varying from three thousand 
 to thirty thousand lines in length, to advertise the monasteries 
 at whose behest they wrote. Possibly, if they were merely 
 from incidental daily conversation so well acquainted with 
 twelve of the great heroes of antiquity, they may have known 
 even more than twelve. It is a rare historical name that sur- 
 vives without a single other name or event of some sort at- 
 tached to it. If Charlemagne's name came down in general 
 tradition, as Bedier himself thus implies, it came with certain 
 elements of romantic nature attached to it, brave deeds, no 
 doubt, and the stories of the men who fought for him, or of 
 
 18 Cf . also Huet, Moyen Age, 1913, p. 428 ; and ibid., p. 429, relative 
 to the Proven<;al Boice. 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 those who dared to oppose him. And if this much could be 
 transmitted-^and Bedier does not deny it — without the aid of 
 the monks, is it necessary that the jongleurs should have 
 awaited the call of the church to sing their profane legends? 
 And did the clerics also furnish, already perfected, the artistic 
 style and distinctive phraseology of the chansons? "Die Ent- 
 stehung der Chansons de geste hat B. nicht erklart ; das gibt er 
 selbst ausdriicklich zu." Such is Tavernier's opinion.^* Bedier 
 himself admits that the mass of facts he has brought together 
 "ne sauraient suffire a expliquer la formation des chansons de 
 geste :^^ ce n'en est pas non plus la formation qu'ils pretendent 
 expliquer, e'en est seulement I'element historique." And 
 "I'histoire tient peu de place" in these poems. It is possible to 
 agree with Bedier entirely here; it has been repeatedly em- 
 phasized in this study that the poems do not concern them- 
 selves with historical events. One may even say with Bedier 
 (IV, 399-400) "N'est-il pas remarquable que, dans tout le 
 vaste cycle des Lorrains, a part de Charles Martel, Pepin, et 
 quelques acteurs d'arriere-plan, comme Helois, il n'y ait pas un 
 seul personnage historique?" It is remarkable that the poet, 
 having waited until the year iioo to receive historical data 
 from the churches, finally writes his vast work, as Bedier him- 
 self admits, without showing the slightest results of this inter- 
 course with the monks ! It is a fact well worthy of note that 
 Bedier finds no support for his hypothesis in the poem of 
 Garin le Loherain — for the author of this poem had a knowl- 
 edge of geography that surpasses anything to be found in any 
 other production of the whole body of the epic poetry. Bedier, 
 however, finds no church influence in the geographical details, 
 nor, for that matter, in any phase of this poem. It is a perti- 
 nent comment on Bedier's hypothesis that his strongest reliance 
 is in poems obviously of late romantic origin, which have no 
 pretense to geographical exactness. It might be expected that 
 Bedier would find a wealth of material in a poem so rich in 
 details of place-names as the Garin: on the contrary he finds 
 
 1* Tavernier, supra, p. 210. 
 i« IV, 428. 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 a stumbling block that is to be avoided rather than removed or 
 utilized. Bedier is right: his researches explain little, almost 
 not at all, the formation of the chanson de geste. What he 
 has done — it may be repeated — is first of all a. valuable nega- 
 tive work — ^he has cleared the field of theories further from 
 the truth than his own. On the positive side he has been 
 limited to showing a connection between the pilgrimages and 
 certain of the chansons de geste.^' 
 
 Ill 
 
 If the sum total of our knowledge of the origin and age of 
 the chansons de geste were to be expressed in a few sentences, 
 the statement would be somewhat as follows. 
 
 Up to the present time, much of the work on the epic 
 poetry has been vitiated by the partisan effort to assign the 
 poetry to either French or German sources. On the Germanic 
 side, there has been established with a high degree of proba- 
 bility the connection of the epic material with historic events 
 as early as the seventh century, thus implying an unbroken 
 tradition from the early German poetry of the Prankish in- 
 vaders, and earlier. On the French side the effort has been to 
 explain how the poetry may be considered purely French in 
 origin. Finally Bedier shows a close connection of some of the 
 poetry with political and social conditions of the twelfth cen- 
 tury, and offers this period as the epoch of the origin of all the 
 chansons de geste; although he himself says once (II, 293) 
 that the oldest chansons de geste might go back to the tenth 
 century, and thus unwittingly endangers his whole structure, 
 and admits its weakness, depending as it does upon the truth 
 of each basic element, and like a chain being only as strong as 
 its weakest link. 
 
 This question, however, has been clouded by calling it the 
 matter of origin. For before anything can be said of origin, 
 the age must be determined. Now the analogy with historical 
 events establishes nothing but that the poetry was composed 
 
 i»Cf. G. Huet, Moyen Age, 1913, 427-8: the jongleurs have simply 
 adapted to the demands of a new public — the pilgrims — a sort of poetry 
 already existing, and which had quite different origins. 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 subsequently to the period of the fact. On the other hand, 
 Bedier proves merely what had been already known, namely, 
 that a part of the poetry was composed in the twelfth century. 
 Even his theory of the monkish origin is nothing new, except 
 for the scope of his treatment of a subject in which he had 
 been preceded by two other scholars.^^ 
 
 The present study has evidenced the fact that the only un- 
 deniable, incontrovertible data on the age of the older epic 
 poetry are to be found in the age of the social and political in- 
 stitutions and customs unconsciously reflected in that poetry 
 by its composer. The evidence of this study is to the end that 
 the earliest age to which any of the poetry can be assigned 
 by reason of such internal data is the ninth century : that from 
 that time on there was an unbroken tradition, which spread 
 with greatest rapidity and in greatest extent at the height of 
 the pilgrimage movement in the twelfth century, and died out 
 in the first half of the thirteenth century.^^ And these ob- 
 servations, limited as they must be by the scope of this study, 
 point the way to a further analysis, less startling in its con- 
 clusions than Bedier's epoch-making hypothesis, but at the 
 same time a richer field for reliable data on the age of the epic 
 material — that is, in the customs, and social and political in- 
 stitutions, reflected in the poems, and proper to successive cen- 
 turies respectively of the history of France in the early middle 
 ages. 
 
 " Ci. C. Jullian, Histoire de Bordeaux, 189S, p. 118: qui salt si les 
 pelerins n'ont pas He les artisans principaux de ces legendes, les vrais 
 rhapsodes de ces epopees, les attachant, pour ainsi dire, le long de l(A 
 voie qu'ils parcouraient, aux sanctuaires oil Us yarretaientf And P. A. 
 Becker, Grundriss der altfransosischen Literatur, Heidelberg, 1907, 1, pp. 
 31-36, says the poems depend upon facts and names retained by the 
 historians (i.e., the Church) ; that the poets securing these data, com- 
 posed their songs along the pilgrimage routes, and recited the primitive 
 legends at the fairs. Becker's departure from the old theory was as 
 early as 1898. 
 
 18 Cf . P. Meyer, Recherches sur I'epopee frangaise, Paris, 1867, p. 65. 
 Of. also F. Lot, Romania, XLII, 1913, p. 597: On attenuera sans doute 
 . . . I'influence directe du clerge dans la formation des epopees: les 
 tombes et autres monuments figures ont donne le branle d I'imagination 
 des poHes, la societe a inspire I'esprit qui les anime . . . sans qu'il soit 
 necessaire d'admettre que ces ceuvres soient dues A de viritables clerics. 
 
 113 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 The following list is limited to those works that have been 
 of especial value in the course of this investigation. 
 
 TEXTS 
 
 Aiol, ]. Normand and G. Raynaud, Paris, 1877. 
 
 Aliscans, E. Wienbeck, W. Hartnacke, P. Rasch, Halle, 1903. 
 
 Amis et Amiles, K. Hoffmann, Erlangen, 1882. 
 
 Auberi le Bourgoing, P. Tarbe, Reims, 1849. Mittheilungen 
 aus altfranzosischen Handschriften, von A. Tobler. 1. Aus 
 der Chanson de geste von Auberi, nach einer vaticanischen 
 Handschrift. Leipzig, 1870. 
 
 Aye (f Avignon, F. Guessard and P. Meyer, Paris, 1861. 
 
 Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, J. Barrois, Paris, 1842. 
 
 Couronnement de Louis, E. Langlois, Paris, 1888. 
 
 Fierabras, A. Kroeber and G. Servois, Paris, i860. 
 
 Floovant, F. Guessard and H. Michelant, Paris, 1859. 
 
 Garin le Loherain, P. Paris, Paris, 1833-1835. 
 
 Gaydon, F. Guessard and S. Luce, Paris, 1862. 
 
 Gerard de Rossillon, Francisque-Michel, Paris, 1856. 
 
 Anftmg der Chanson de Girbert de Metz, E. Stengel {Roma- 
 nische Studien, I, pp. 441 ff., E. Boehmer, Strassburg, 1875.) 
 
 Die Befreiung Narbonne's durch Gerbert de Mes, Episode aus 
 dem Schlussteil der Chanson de Gerbert de Mds, E. Sten- 
 gel {Zeitschrift fiir framzosische Sprache und Litteratur, 
 XXIII, 1901, pp. 271-301). 
 
 Gormont et Isembart, A. Bayot, Paris, 1914. 
 
 Fragment de Gornmnd et Isembard, R. Heiligbrodt {Roma- 
 nische Studien, III, 1878, pp. 501-596). 
 
 Gui de Bourgogne, F. Guessard and H. Michelant, Paris, 1859. 
 
 Gui de Nanteuil, P. Me^yer, Paris, 1861. 
 
 Hervis de Metz, E. Stengel {Gesellschaft fiir romanische Lit- 
 eratur, I, Dresden, 1903). 
 
 Hugues Capet, De la Grange, Paris, 1864. 
 
 Mart de Garin le Loherain, E. du Meril, Paris, 1846. 
 
 Otinel, F. Guessard and H. Michelant, Paris, 1859. 
 
 114 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 QiMtre Fils Aymon, F. Castets, Montpellier, 1909. 
 Raoul de Cambrai, P. Meyer and A. Longnon, Paris, 1882. 
 Renaut de Montauban, H. Midielant {Bibliothek des litte- 
 rarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, LXVII, Stuttgart, 1862. 
 
 II 
 LITERARY CRITICISM. 
 
 Les Archmsmes apparents dans la chanson de Raoul de Cam- 
 brai, Acher {Revue des langues romanes, L, 1907, pp. 
 237 ff.). 
 
 De Floovante, A. Darmesteter, Paris, 1877. 
 
 Erde und Gras als Rechtssymbol im Raoul de Cambrai, F. Set- 
 tegast (Zeitschrift ftir romanische Philologie, XXXI, 1907, 
 pp.S88ff.). 
 
 Floovant-Studien, G. Brockstedt, Kiel, 1907. 
 
 Die Formalitdten des gottesgerichtUchen Zweikampfs in der 
 altfranzosischen Epik, M. Pfeflfer {Zeitschrift fiir roma- 
 nische Philologie, IX, 1885, pp. 1-74). 
 
 Frcmce, Franceis, und Franc im Rolandsliede, C. T. Hoefft, 
 Strassburg, 1891. 
 
 Geschichte der franzosichen Litteratur, Suchier and Birch- 
 Hirschfeld, Leipzig and Vienna, 1900. 
 
 Gormund et Isembard, F. Lot (Romania, XXVII, 1898, pp. 
 
 i-So)- 
 
 Grundriss der altfransosischen Literatur, P. A. Becker, Heidel- 
 berg, 1907. 
 
 Histoire litteraire de la France, ouvrage commence par des 
 religieux benedictins, Paris, 1733 ff. 
 
 Histoire poetique de Charlemagne, G. Paris, Paris, 1865 (and 
 
 Histoire de Bordeaux jusqu'en i8p5, C. Jullian, Bordeaux, 
 
 1895. 
 L'idee politique dans les chansons de gesfe, L. Gautier {Revue 
 
 des questions historiques, VII, 1869, pp. 79 ff.). 
 Les Legendes epiques, J. Bedier, Paris, 1908-13; 2d. ed., I, 
 
 1914. 
 Le Origini dell'epopea francese, P. Rajna, Firenze, 1884. 
 Recherches sur I'epopee frangaise, P. Meyer, Paris, 1867. 
 Vita e Poesie di Sordello di Goito, C. de Lollis, Halle, 1896. 
 
 :iei ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Reviews of the Legendes epiques of Bedier as follows : 
 W. Tavernier, Archiv fiir das Studium der neueren Sprachen 
 und Literaturen, CXXXI, 1913, pp. 734 ff. 
 
 "S 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 W. Foerster, Literarisches Centralblatt fur Deutschland, 1908, 
 
 27 Juni. 
 G. Huet, Moyen Age, 1908, pp. 339 flf. ; 1913, pp. 427 ^• 
 
 E. Bourciez, Revue critique, LXVII, 1909, pp. 71 fi. 
 
 F. Lot, Romania, XLII, 1913, pp. 593 ff. 
 
 H. Suchier, Zeitschrift fiir romanische Philologie, XXXII, 
 1908, pp. 734 if. 
 
 Ill 
 HISTORICAL SOURCES AND STUDIES. 
 
 Atlas historique de la France depuis Cesar jusqu'a nos jours, 
 A. Longnon, Paris, 1912. 
 
 Blood Covenant, H. C. Trumbull, Philadelphia, 1898. 
 
 Burchardi et Cuonradi Urspergensium Chronicon, Pertz, Han- 
 nover, 1874. 
 
 Capitularia regum Frcmcorum, Baluzius, Parisiis, 1677. 
 
 Chronica Albrici Monachi Trium Fontium {Monumenta Ger- 
 maniae Historica, Scriptores, XXIII, 1874, pp. 631 flf.). 
 
 Chronique rvmee de Philippe Mouskes, De Reiifenberg, Bru- 
 xelles, 1836-8. 
 
 Chroniques de Froissart, Kervyn de Lettenhove, Bruxelles, 
 1867-77. 
 
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 116 
 
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 II, p. I ff., Paris, 1901). 
 Le Royaume d' Aries et de Vienne, Foumier, Paris, 1891. 
 Les Sports et Jeux d'exercice dans I'ancienne France, J. J. 
 
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 117 
 
FEUDAL FRANCE IN THE FRENCH EPIC 
 
 Western Europe m the Fifth Century, E. A. Freeman, Lon- 
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 VITA 
 
 Born June 2, 1893, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I received 
 my secondary education at Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh. 
 In 1912 I entered Princeton University, and was graduated in 
 1916 with the degree of A.B. and High Final Special Honors 
 in Modern Languages, Romanic Division. In 1917 I received 
 the degree of A.M. from Princeton University. The year 
 1917-1918 has been spent at Columbia University. 
 
 I wish to express my appreciation of courses pursued under 
 Professors Todd, Baldensperger, Loiseaux, Spiers, Brander 
 Matthews, Evans. Especially I owe to Dr. Todd thanks for 
 his most valuable assistance in the present study. 
 
 George Baer Fundenburg. 
 
 118 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aialj chanson of the first decade of the thirteenth century, 22, 103, 
 representing the late feudal period, 100, political geography of this 
 poem, 27-28, des fiance in this poem, 91. 
 
 Amis et Amiles, chanson of the twelfth century, 8, its unreliability 
 as source of French custom-material, 8-9, compagnonnage in the 
 Amis et Amiles, 67, 81, traditional friendship of Amis and Amiles, 
 67. 
 
 Anseis de Metz, chanson of the eleventh century, 26, 100, 102, geog- 
 raphy of poem in bearing upon place of origin, 26-27. 
 
 AntrustionSj vassals of the early Prankish princes, 53-57. 
 
 Aries, Kingdom of, constituted in 880, received name of Aries in 
 twelfth century from its capital city, 18. 
 
 Auberi le Bourgoing, chanson of the tenth century, 24, 100, 102, fi- 
 delity of depiction of feudal life, 9, political geography of, 19-20, 
 24-26, cowardice of baron in face of superior strength illustrated 
 by this poem, 42, one of the first chansons read by the author, 9. 
 
 Aye d'Avignon, chanson of second quarter of twelfth century, 22, 
 100, 103, political geography of, 22, 27-28, duel portrayed, 94-98. 
 
 Barons, bravery of, 34, reliance on superior strength, 34, 85-87, inde- 
 pendence of, 35, restive spirit of, 36-37, savagery of, 38-40, coward- 
 ice in the face of physical superiority, 42-43, political status of, 
 47-51, 79-84. 
 
 Benefices, origin of, 55-57. 
 
 Beuves d'Aigremont, chanson of the ninth century, 17, 100, 102, incor- 
 porated as first episode of Quatre Fils Aymon, 17, political geog- 
 raphy, 24-26. 
 
 Bourgogne, Kingdom of, known as Kingdom of Aries after twelfth 
 century, 18. 
 
 Cantilines, short songs supposed by Gaston Paris and others to have 
 been source of chansons de geste, I, 103. 
 
 Chivalry, subsequent to FeudaUsm, 4, contrasted with Feudalism, 50. 
 
 Cliges, type poem of the Court Epic, composed about 1170 by Chretien 
 de Troyes, 2. 
 
 Commendation, a social institution under the Merovingians, 58-61. 
 
 Compagnonnage, a supposititious relationship of man to man in the 
 Feudal epoch, 67, note 39, 79-84. 
 
 Congie, formal leave-taking, significance of the omission of, 96. 
 
 Consanguinity, a political instrument, 37. 
 
 Couronnement de Louis, chanson of the ninth century, 16-17, 100, 102, 
 its exaltation of the Imperial Ideal, 2, political geography of, 16- 
 17, 24-26, homme-d-seigneur relationship in this poem, 67-69. 
 
 119 
 
INDEX 
 
 Court Epic, most recent form of epic poetry, 2, dating from the end 
 
 of the twelfth century, 4. 
 Cowardice, cf. Barons, and Auberi le Bourgoing. 
 Crusades, influence on epic poetry, 4. 
 Desfiance, the breaking of friendly relations between man and man, 
 
 49, 89-94, omission from a chanson an indication of early compo- 
 sition, 92. 
 Duel, the arbiter of justice, 94-99, historical instance of, 93. 
 Epic Poetry, classification of, 3-8, loo-ioi, nature of, i, 33, 42, 51, age 
 
 of, 3-8, 100-103, 112-113. 
 Fesiuca, symbol of the breaking of allegiance between homme and 
 
 seigneur, 88-89. 
 Feudal Epic, nature of, 3-4, accuracy of, 13-14, political geography of, 
 
 ig-22, age of, 3-8, 19-22, loi. 
 Feudalism, nature of, 3, 78-79, 98, contrasted with Chivalry, 50. 
 Fideles, vassals of Prankish princes, S3-S4: cf. Antrustions 
 Fiefs, origin of, 61. 
 Floovant, poem of the ninth century, 16, 64-67, 100, 102, political 
 
 geography of, 24-26, portrayal of homme-a-seigneur relationship, 
 
 64-67. 
 France, extent of, during the early Middle Ages, 12-15. 
 Freres d'Armes, value of the term in its relation to compagnonnage, 84. 
 Gaige, incidental to duel, 93. 
 
 Garin le Loherain, chanson of the eleventh century, 3, 100, 102, reliabil- 
 ity in depiction of custom-material and geographical details, 9, 
 
 20-21, 26-27, 29, primitive anger scenes in, 37-38, portrayal of the 
 
 bond of kinship in, 48-50. 
 Gaydon, chanson of the last quarter of twelfth century, 22, 100, 103, 
 
 desfiance in, 91, duel in, 95-96. 
 Girard de Rossillon, chanson of the last half of the twelfth century, 
 
 22, 100, 103, political geography of, 22, 27-28. 
 Gerbert de Metz, chanson of eleventh century, 20, 100, 103, political 
 
 geography of, 26-27. 
 Gormund et Isembard, chanson of the ninth century, 100, 102, political 
 
 geography of, 24-26, homme-d-seit, neur relationship in, 69-70. 
 Guillaume le Marectial, historical value of, 31, characteristic anger 
 
 display in, 39. 
 
 Guy de Bourgogne, chanson of the twelfth century, 22, 100, 163, un- 
 reliability of, 13, 29, political geography of, 22, 28. 
 
 Guy de Nanteuil, chanson of the end of twelfth century, 22, 100, 103, 
 political geography of, 28. 
 
 Hervis de Metz, chanson of early thirteenth century, 22, 100, 103, un- 
 reliability of, 13, 22, 29. 
 
 Homage, outgrowth of commendation, 61, formula for, 61-62. 
 
 Homme-a-seigneur relationship, historical development of, 52-62, po- 
 etical illustrations of, 64-77, contrasted with supposititious system 
 of compagnonnage, 79-82, disappearance of, 85. 
 
 Honor, medieval connotation of term, 43-44. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Kinship, political value of, 47-51. 
 
 Mart Garin, chanson of eleventh century, 20, 100, 102, accuracy of, 
 
 20-^1, 29, political geography of, 20-21, 26-27, primitive nature of, 
 
 37, bond of kinship in, 49. 
 National Epic, Roland sole example of, 2, historical inaccuracy of, loi. 
 Ogier, chanson of the last quarter of the twelfth century, 22, 100, 103, 
 
 political geography of, 22, 27-29. 
 Origin of epic poetry, place of, 25-29, date of, 100-103. 
 Otinel, chanson of last quarter of twelfth century, 22, 100, 103, politi- 
 cal geography of, 22, 28-29. 
 Patrocinium, the Roman counterpart of the Prankish Commendation, 
 
 58. 
 Pilgrimages, influence on epic poetry, 6, 104-112. 
 
 Pre-Feudal Epic, chansons of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, 3. 
 Quatre Fits Aymon, chanson of the twelfth century, 22, 27, 100, 103, 
 
 artificially connected with the Beuves d'Aigremont, 17, political 
 
 geography of, 22-23, 27-29. 
 Raoul de Camhrai, chanson of the tenth century, 19, 24, yj, 100, 103, 
 
 political geography of, 24-26, 29, sliiperstition in, 4,6-4,7, homme-d- 
 
 seigneur relationship in, 72-77, one of the first chansons de geste 
 
 read by the author, 9. 
 Religion, formality of, 45-47, influence of, 87. 
 Revenge, dominant characteristic of medieval epoch, 70-71, 76, 93. 
 Roland, sole example of National Epic, 1-2, geographical inaccuracy 
 
 of, 13. 
 Romances of Chivalry, dating from end of twelfth century, 4. 
 Romans d'aventure, applied to late feudal poetry, 4, inaccuracy of, loi. 
 Saddle-hearing an ancient form of amend, 64, note 28. 
 Superstition, phase of medieval religion, 45-47. 
 Terre ne erbe, formula of primitive oath, 63, note 28. 
 Wergild, murder indemnity, 54. 
 
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