French English literature of XI-XIV cc.

William of Malmesbury testified that a trouvère was singing before the Hastings battle the fragments of “The Roland’s Song” to awaken the warriors’ courage. Henry of Huntingdon also testifies that “The Song of Roland” was very famous in Norman surrounding in the beginning of the XII c. in the original. The oldest manuscript of it was found in Oxford. Indirect evidence of wide spreading of “The Song of Roland” and other French "chansons de geste" of the “Carolingian cycle” were later ME poetic translations and paraphrases (as "Roland and Vernagu", 1330-1340, "Duke Rowlande and Sir Otuell of Spayne", about 1400), with considerable changes. At I Norman E. lit-re in French, on the conquered territory was close to the Latin one. As for the beg.og the XII c. – a number of poetic French chronicles that set forth genealogies and family legends of the Norman dukes, foundators of a new royal dynasty of England. The poetic “History of Britts” was written during I 20 years of the XII c. By a Norman poet Geoffrey Gaimar, based on Latin one by Galfrid Monmaut (it wasn’t preserved till our time). However the II one – “The History of Angles” was preserved in light and clear 8syllabled couplet that gave a history of Anglo-Saxons till 1100, the year of Henry I Bauclerk, William the Conqueror’s son’s accession to the throne.

French lit-re reached its bright flowering especially in vast ownership of Henry II Plantagenet, acceding to the thronein 1154. He was I of all a French monarch and spent most of his reign on the continent. W. Mapp indicated that he spoke French, read Latin, understood Provençal and Italian, but not English. His wife Alienore was in her I marriage a French queen (wife of Lui VII) and brought Henry into dowry the duchy of Aquitane that drew him closer with European south. Later Henry II gave his daughters out for the kings of Castily and Sicily, made peace with the king of Aragon, tried to capture county of Toulouse, etc. The inherent to the powerful foundator of "empire" cosmopolitism didn’t interfere into his inclination to French lit-re; Alienore and their sons encouraged Provençal poetry. We associate the names of the major French writers of the time with the court of Henry II - Wace, Beneeit de Sainte Maure, Maria French, Robert de Borron, etc; Alienore patronized Provençal troubadours, some of whom visited England.

The Norman clerk Wace (died after 1174) resumed poetic tradition of Gaimar at Henry II’s court. He was the I French writer who turned Geoffrey of Monmouth’s fabulous chronicle to profitable poetical uses. He was born on the Jersey island in the beg.of the XII c., his childhood passed in Caen, he received theological education in Paris, became a teacher-clergyman at the courts of Henry I and II. His most important works were 2 bulky poetic "romances" (any works then written on "Roman" language, not Latin); written on order of English royal couple that wished as their predecessors to have a detailed history of Britain and their Norman possessions. I of them – “The Acts of britts” (Geste de Bretuns), called also "Brut", 1155. Wace was a courtly writer, and in his narrative Arthur appears as the flower of chivalry, the ideal knightly warrior of the Norman imagination. “Brut” mentions “Round Table” for the I time with the reference на "Breton tales". It was made by Arthur in order to settle all disputes about precedence among his knights. Wace also amplifies Geoffrey’s account of the passing of Arthur. The British king is not merely left in Avalon “to be cured of his wounds”; he is still there, the Bretons await him, and say that he will come back and live again. Wace’s poem, as a whole in 15000 verses, thus represents an intermediate stage between the chronicles and the pure romance, especially important by the fact it became a base to many next works of French romances and was 1 of main sources for ME “ Brut ” by Layamon.

In France, the XII-XIII c. witnessed a very remarkable change of taste in stories which spread over all Europe and affected the English, the Germans, and other peoples in different ways. The old national epics, the chansons de geste, were displaced by a new romantic school, which triumphed over the old. The Chansons de geste were meant for the hall, for recitation after supper; the new romances were intended to be read in lady’s bower; they were for summer leisure and daylight. The old French poet’s well-known division of stories according to the three “matters”—the “matter of France,” the “matter of Britain” and the “matter of Rome the great”—very imperfectly sums up the riches and the variety of French romantic themes, even when it is understood that the “matter of Rome” includes the whole of antiquity, the tales of Thebes and Troy, the wars of Alexander.

One can trace the development of European romance and courtly romance in works of Gaimar, Wace and St. More due to international West European process of creating a knights’ culture that united aristocracy. It started in France and thus English 1 will be connected with French 1. As soon as the Norman knighthood firmly and peacefully established itself in England, the number of cities increased, there were strong castled erected, its interests and aesthetic needs changed. The truly knight’s codex included: 1) faithful serfdom to the suzerain; 2) fight with the infidels; 3) protection of weak and hurt; 4) be a brave warrior; 5) to serve a Lady.

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