An Anglo-Norman variety of French continued to exist into the early 15th century, though it was in decline from at least the 1360s when it was deemed insufficiently well-known to be used for pleading in court.
An event with which he was closely connected, viz., the murder of Thomas Becket, gave rise to a whole series of writings, some of which are purely Anglo-Norman.
The Pélérinage de Charlemagne (Eduard Koschwitz, Altfranzösische Bibliothek, 1883) for instance, is only preserved in an Anglo-Norman manuscript of the British Museum (now lost)[how?
[3] The inter-influence of French and English literature can be studied in the Breton romances and the romans d'aventure even better than in the epic poetry of the period.
The Lay of Orpheus is known only through an English imitation, Sir Orfeo; the Lai du cor was composed by Robert Biket, an Anglo-Norman poet of the 12th century (Wulff, Lund, 1888).
[3] The legends of Merlin and Arthur, collected in the Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth (died c. 1154), passed into French literature, bearing the character which the bishop of St Asaph had stamped upon them.
Robert de Boron (c. 1215) took the subject of his Merlin (published by G. Paris and J. Ulrich, 1886, 2 vols., Société des anciens textes français) from Geoffrey of Monmouth.
[3] Hugh of Rutland wrote two romans d'aventure: Ipomedon (published by Eugen Kölbing and Koschwitz, Breslau, 1889), which relates the adventures of a knight who married the young duchess of Calabria, niece of King Meleager of Sicily, but was loved by Medea, the king's wife,[3] and Protheselaus (published by Kluckow, Göttingen, 1924), written around 1185, which is the sequel to Ipomedon.
He subsequently marries Medea, King Meleager's widow, who had helped him seize Apulia, having transferred her affection for Ipomedon to his younger son (cf.
Gaston Paris has proved that the original was composed in England in the 12th century (An English Miscellany presented to Dr. Furnivall in Honour of his Seventy-fifth Birthday, Oxford, 1901, 386–394).
[3] The Anglo-Norman poem on the Life of Richard Coeur de Lion is lost, and an English version only has been preserved.
Its 43,000 lines are the work of a romancier courtois, who takes pleasure in recounting love-adventures such as those he has described in his romance of Troy, rather than serious historiography.
Francisque Michel, London, 1837), together with the Expugnatio hibernica of Gerald of Wales, constitutes the chief authority on this subject.
The Conquest of Ireland was republished in 1892 by Goddard Henry Orpen, under the title of The Song of Dermot and the Earl (Oxford, Clarendon Press).
Similarly, Jourdain Fantosme, who was in the north of England in 1174, wrote an account of the wars between Henry II, his sons, William the Lion of Scotland and Louis VII, in 1173 and 1174 (Chronicle of the reigns of Stephen ...
It was compiled from the notes of the marshal's squire, John d'Early (d. 1230 or 1231), who shared all the vicissitudes of his master's life and was one of the executors of his will.
This work is of great value for the history of the period 1186–1219, as the information furnished by John d'Early is either personal or obtained at first hand.
In the part which deals with the period before 1186 there are various mistakes, due to the author's ignorance of contemporary history, but this does not detract significantly from the literary value of the work.
The style is concise, the anecdotes are well told, the descriptions short and picturesque; the whole constitutes one of the most living pictures of medieval society.
by J. Stevenson, Maitland Club, Edinburgh, 1836); the Black Prince, a poem by the poet Chandos Herald, composed about 1386, and relating the life of the Black Prince from 1346-1376 (re-edited by Francisque Michel, London and Paris, 1883); and, lastly, the different versions of the Brutes, the form and historical importance of which have been indicated by Paul Meyer (Bulletin de la Société des anciens textes français, 1878, pp.
The following list gives the most important productions arranged in chronological order:[8] In the 14th century is found:[9] Also existing are a few handbooks on the teaching of French.
textes, p. 360 and Romania xxxii, 22); Orthographia gallica (J. Stürzinger (editor), Altfranzösische Bibliothek herausgegeben von Dr. Wendelin Foerster.
In 1884, Meyer noted no fewer than fourteen manuscripts containing this treatise;[10] Un petit livre pour enseigner les enfants de leur entreparler comun françois, c. 1399 (Stengel, Z. für n.f.
[9] Among the numerous lives of saints written in Anglo-Norman the most important ones are the following, the list of which is given in chronological order:[9] To this category can be added the life of Hugh of Lincoln, 13th century (Hist.
An interesting passage in Piers Plowman furnishes us with a proof of the extent to which these songs penetrated into England, which writes of:[9] One of the finest productions of Anglo-Norman lyric poetry written in the end of the 13th century is the Plainte d'amour (Vising, Göteborg, 1905; Romania xiii.
In Early English Lyrics (Oxford, 1907) there is a poem in which a lover sends to his mistress a love-greeting composed in three languages, and his learned friend replies in the same style (De amico ad amicam, Responcio, viii and ix).
[9] The popularity enjoyed by the Roman de Renart and the Anglo-Norman version of the Riote du Monde (Z. f. rom.
However, an Englishman raised his voice in favour of the ladies in a poem entitled La Bonté des dames (Meyer, Rom.
315-339), and Nicole Bozon, after having represented "Pride" as a feminine being whom he supposes to be the daughter of Lucifer, and after having fiercely attacked the women of his day in the Char d'Orgueil (Rom.
The Roman des Français, by André de Coutances, was written on the continent, and cannot be quoted as Anglo-Norman although it was composed before 1204 (cf.