Aiquin (also spelled Aquin or Acquin),[a] subtitled La conqueste de la Bretaigne par le roy Charlemaigne[b] ("The Conquest of Brittany by King Charlemagne"), is a medieval Old French chanson de geste (heroic narrative poem) about the rivalry between a Saracen king, Aiquin, and the Christian emperor Charlemagne. The French medievalist Joseph Bédier called it a "consolidation of history and legend in an imposing ensemble."[1] It survives in one fifteenth-century manuscript, BnF fr. 2233, now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It is usually attributed to Garin Trousseboeuf [fr], possibly a cleric of Dol.[2] According to historian Éric Borgnis-Desbordes, it was written in the early thirteenth century, probably around 1213 and under the guise of a chanson de geste featuring Charlemagne and the Viking invasions in the tenth century, the author may have alluded to “the transition from Plantagenet domination to Capetian influence in Brittany”.[3] It is the oldest extant French text from Brittany.[2]

The setting of the chanson almost certainly corresponds to the period 919–37 in Breton history, when the Normans (Vikings newly settled in northern France) persistently raided Brittany.[1][2] It conflates Saracens (Sarrasin) and Arabs (Arabis) with Normans (Norois), and places Aiquin's origins in the north country (Nort pais).[1] It also turns Roland, the Frankish hero of the earlier Chanson de Roland, into a native Breton.[2]

Inspired by Aiquin, the family of the famous French soldier Bertrand du Guesclin (died 1380) claimed to descend from the Saracen king.[4]

Editions

Notes

  1. ^ It is sometimes given the full title Roman d'Aquin ("Romance of Aiquin") or Chanson d'Aiquin ("Song of Aiquin").
  2. ^ La Conquête de la Bretagne par le roi Charlemagne in modern French.

References

  1. ^ a b c Hanak 1971, p. 408.
  2. ^ a b c d Ailes 2012, p. 157.
  3. ^ Borgnis-Desbordes 2018, pp. 339–359, esp. 340–41 and 359.
  4. ^ Jones 2004, p. xviii, n. 19, citing Marius Canard (1929), "L'origine sarrazine de Bertrand du Guesclin", Revue Africaine (Algiers), pp. 1–26

Bibliography

  • Ailes, Marianne (2012). "Review of Nicolas Lenoir, Etude sur la Chanson d'Aiquin, ou La Conquete de la Bretagne par le roi Charlemagne". Medium Aevum. 81 (2): 157–58.
  • Bédier, Joseph (1926). "La conquête de la Bretagne par le roi Charlemagne". Les légendes épiques, recherches sur la formation des chansons de geste. Vol. 2. Paris. pp. 99–142.((cite encyclopedia)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Borgnis-Desbordes, Éric (2018). Constance de Bretagne (1161-1201), une duchesse face à Richard Cœur de Lion et Jean sans Terre. Fouesnant: Yoran embanner.
  • Hanak, M. J. (1971). "Torleus and Dapamorz: Two Examples of Ethnic Amalgamation in the Song of Roland". Romanische Forschungen. 83 (4): 405–22.
  • Jones, Michael, ed. (2004). Letters, Orders and Musters of Bertrand Du Guesclin (1357–1380). Woodbridge: Boydell Press.
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