[1] Bodel wrote Chanson des Saisnes [fr][1] ("Song of the Saxons") about the war of King Charlemagne with the Saxons and their leader Widukind, whom Bodel calls Guiteclin.
Set in the middle of an epic battle between Christians and Muslims, the play tells the story of a good Christian who escapes the battle and is found praying to a statue of Saint Nicolas by the Muslim forces.
The Muslim leader decides to test the saint by unlocking the doors to his treasury and leaving the statue as a guardian, stipulating that if anything were stolen the Christian would forfeit his life.
[2] Like another French miracle play from the same time period, Le Miracle de Théophile, Le Jeu de saint Nicolas contains an invocation to the Devil in an unknown language:[3] Bodel was the first person of record to classify the legendary themes and literary cycles known to medieval literature into the "Three Matters".
[1] He then wrote a long farewell, "Les Congés",[1] his most personal and touching work.