This thirteenth-century epic comes from the manuscript 2.0.1. of the Peterhouse College at the University of Cambridge. It has been written in an Old French dialect and contains 9608 verses which constitute 246 rimed laisses (two other manuscripts can be found; one at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, XIII$\sp{\rm th}$ century and the other at the Bibliotheque de la Faculte de Medecine of Montpellier, XIV$\sp{\rm th}$ century). This epic narrates the life of Maugis, knight, enchanter and soothsayer, who not only fights the Sarrasins before Toledo, Milan or Palermo, but also leads ruthless feudal battles against the emperor Charlemagne. The hero, instructed by an old magician Baudri, soon becomes a fearful conjurer due to his brilliant sense for artfulness. Throughout his numerous audacious feats of skill, the magician is helped by the "fairy-horse" Bayard as well as the famous sword Froberge. / The introduction of this bilingual translation analyzes the main characters, Maugis, Charlemagne, Espiet and the emir Vivien, through a variety of different themes such as the feudal relations between vassals and king, crusades against the pagans, conversions of muslims to christianity and of course, love between knights and sarrasin princesses. The "merveilleux" or supernatural, is the predominant characteristic of this work, and the growing influence of the "matiere de Bretagne" is here, subtilely combined with the traditional rhetoric of the epic. / In conclusion, this epic will be reinserted into the cycle to which it belongs, the rebel cycle, in order to understand better the frequent allusions to other epic heroes such as Girart de Roussillon, Renaut de Montauban ou les quatre fils Aymon. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1347. / Major Professor: Joseph Allaire. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77430 |
| Contributors | Fournier-Lanzoni, Remi., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 809 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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