Aucassin and Nicolette
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
chantefable, or combination of prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
and verse
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
(literally, a "sung story", similar to a prosimetrum
Prosimetrum
A prosimetrum is a literary piece that is made up of alternating passages of prose and poetry.-Examples:*De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii by Martianus Capella*Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius*Cosmographia by Bernard Silvestris...
).
History
The work probably dates from the late 12th or early 13th century, and is known from only one surviving manuscriptManuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
, discovered in 1752 by medievalist La Curne de Sainte-Pelaye (BnF
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
, Fonds Français 2168).
Stylistically, the chantefable combines elements of many Old French genre's such as the chanson de geste (e.g., The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various manuscript versions which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries...
), lyric poems, and courtly novels
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....
—literary forms already well-established by the twelfth century. It is the only known chantefable, and thus from this work the term chantefable is coined from the concluding lines: “No cantefable prent fin” ("Our chantefable is drawing to a close").
Plot summary
The story begins with a song which serves as prologue; and then prose takes up the narrative, telling how Aucassin, son of Count Garin of BeaucaireBeaucaire
Beaucaire is a commune in the Gard department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-Geography:Beaucaire is located on the Rhône River, opposite the town of Tarascon, which is in Bouches-du-Rhône department of Provence.Neighboring communes:...
, so loved Nicolette, a Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...
maiden, who had been sold to the Viscount of Beaucaire, baptized and adopted by him, that he had forsaken knighthood and chivalry and even refused to defend his father's territories from enemies. Accordingly his father ordered the Viscount to send Nicolette away, but the Viscount locked her in a tower of his palace instead. Aucassin is imprisoned by his father to prevent him from going after his beloved Nicolette. But Nicolette escapes, hears Aucassin lamenting in his cell, and comforts him with sweet words. She flees to the forest outside the gates, and there, in order to test Aucassin's fidelity, builds a rustic home to await his arrival. When he is released from prison, Aucassin hears from shepherd lads of Nicolette's hiding-place, and seeks her bower
Bower
Bower may refer to:* a folly built by the Bowerbird to attract mates; see wiktionary:bower.* a dwelling or lean-to shelter, also known as an arbor* an anchor carried at the bow of a ship* Bower Manuscript, a Sanskrit manuscript...
. The lovers, united, resolve to leave the country. They board a ship and are driven to the (fictional) kingdom of "Torelore", whose king they find in child-bed, while the queen is with the army. After a three years' stay in Torelore they are captured by Saracen pirates and separated. Contrary winds blow Aucassin's boat back to Beaucaire, where he succeeds to Garin's estate, while Nicolette is carried to "Cartage" (perhaps a play on Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
or Cartagena
Cartagena
-Colombia:*Cartagena, Colombia, a city in the Bolivar Region, the largest city bearing this name*Cartagena de Chairá, Colombia-Other:*Cartagena *Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety*FC Cartagena, a football club based in Cartagena, Spain-See also:...
). The sight of the city reminds her that she is the daughter of its king, and a royal marriage is planned for her. But she avoids this by disguising herself in a minstrel's garb and sets sail for Beaucaire to rejoin her beloved Aucassin. There, before Aucassin who does not immediately recognize her, she sings of her own adventures, and in due time makes herself known to him.
Major themes
CriticCritic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s have seen the story as a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of such genres as the epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
, the romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
, and the saint's life
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
. "Few Old French genres escape parody in this concise literary encyclopedia." For example the theme of distant love (amor de lonh), common in Provençal poetry, is reversed: the lady dresses up as a troubadour and seeks out her beloved man. Many of the scenes which seem outwardly comedic, such as the pregnant King (more gender reversal) or wars fought with cheese and apple projectiles (wars are usually fought over food, not with food), are further examples of flipping traditional literary tropes on their head. Aucassin's speech that he would prefer hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
to heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
because hell's inmates are likely to be more entertaining is a play on Saints Lives. Even the names are at odds, "Aucassin" (al-Kassim?) sounds more Saracen than the very Christian "Nicolette".
The story was included in Mortimer Adler's
Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Jerome Adler was an American philosopher, educator, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for the longest stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California...
Gateway to the Great Books
Gateway to the Great Books
Gateway to the Great Books is a 10-volume series of books originally published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. in 1963 and edited by Mortimer Adler and Robert Maynard Hutchins. The set was designed as an introduction to the Great Books of the Western World, published by the same organization and...
(1962) collection, which called it one of the freshest and most delightful "springtime flowers of literature."
External links
- Aucassin et Nicolette, translated by Eugene Mason (2001)., translated by Andrew Lang (1887), translated by Francis William Bourdillon (1908)
- Aucassin and Nicolette, translation and introduction by Andrew LangAndrew LangAndrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...
(1887). An unauthorized fine press edition by Thomas Bird MosherThomas Bird MosherThomas Bird Mosher was an American publisher. He is notable for his contributions to the private press movement in the United States.-Early life:...
"the prince of pirates", via Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(scanned book) - Aucassin and Nicolette at LibriVoxLibriVoxLibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers and is probably, since 2007, the world's most prolific audiobook publisher...
(audiobook) - Aucassin et Nicolette at BestofLegends.org