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