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Matter of France
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The Matter of France, also known as the Carolingian cycle, is a body of legendary history that springs from the Old French medieval literature of the chansons de geste. Its tales were first developed in these epics, but the stories they told lived on after the medieval epics themselves were no longer widely read.
It was contrasted by medieval French writers with the Matter of Britain, the legendary history of the British Isles; and the Matter of Rome, which represented the medieval poets' interpretations of Greek mythology and the history of classical antiquity.
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The Matter of France, also known as the Carolingian cycle, is a body of legendary history that springs from the Old French medieval literature of the chansons de geste. Its tales were first developed in these epics, but the stories they told lived on after the medieval epics themselves were no longer widely read.
It was contrasted by medieval French writers with the Matter of Britain, the legendary history of the British Isles; and the Matter of Rome, which represented the medieval poets' interpretations of Greek mythology and the history of classical antiquity. The three names were bestowed by the twelfth century French poet Jean Bodel, author of the Chanson de Saisnes, a chanson de geste in which he wrote:
- Ne sont que III matières à nul homme atandant,
- De France et de Bretaigne, et de Rome la grant.
Central figures of the Matter of France include Charlemagne and his paladins, especially Roland, hero of the Chanson de Roland, and Oliver, a hero who was frequently cast in conflict with the Muslim champion Fierabras. Originally, the Matter of France contained tales of war and martial valour, being focused on the conflict between the Franks and Saracens or Moors during the period of Charles Martel and Charlemagne. The Chanson de Roland, for example, is about the Battle of Roncevaux Pass during the Moorish invasion of southern France. As the genre matured, elements of fantasy and magic tended to accrue to the tales. The magic horse Bayard, for example, is a recurring figure in many of the tales.
Traditional classification
About 1215 Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube, in the introductory lines to his Girart de Vienne, set out a subdivision of the Matter of France into three cycles, which have been adopted by many modern critics as a useful means of grouping the chansons de geste. These are his words:
The cycles can be outlined as follows:
- The Geste du roi, whose chief character is Charlemagne himself, seen as champion of Christianity. This cycle contains the best known of the chansons, the Chanson de Roland.
- The Geste de Garin de Monglane, whose central character was Guillaume d'Orange. These dealt with knights who were typically younger sons, not heirs, and who seek land and glory through combat with the Infidels.
- The Geste de Doon de Mayence, concerning traitors and rebels against royal authority.
For a list of chansons that can be attached to each of these cycles, see Chanson de geste.
The Matter of France in later literature
After the period of the chanson de geste was over, the Matter of France lived on. Its most well known survival is in the Italian epics by Ludovico Ariosto, Matteo Maria Boiardo, Torquato Tasso, and a number of lesser authors who worked the material; their tales of Orlando furioso ("The Madness of Roland") and Orlando innamorato ("Roland in Love") were taken directly from the chansons de geste. These poems, in turn, were imitated in English by Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene, although Spenser's work has been separated from the Matter of France and put in the setting of an imaginary faerie land.
Tales of the Matter of France were also found in Old Norse, where the Karlamagnus Saga was written in the thirteenth century in Norway; it contains a synopsis of the main stories of the cycle. Indeed, until the Celtic revival in Britain and Ireland breathed new life into the Arthurian cycle in the nineteenth century, the Matter of France and the Matter of Britain were more or less equally renowned divisions of medieval legend.
Modern fantasy literature has used the Matter of France far less than the Matter of Britain, although Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions takes place in a fantasy world where it was historical fact. Through Anderson's book, the Matter of France also had some influence on the popular Dungeons & Dragons game. Italo Calvino's fantasy novel The Nonexistent Knight also takes place in the world of the Matter of France.
External links
- by Alexx Kay
- by Paula Kate Marmor
- by Agnes Grozier Herbertson
- by Agnes Grozier Herbertson
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