Roman de Rou
Encyclopedia
Wace
Wace was a Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy , ending his career as Canon of Bayeux.-Life:...
in Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
covering the history of the Dukes of Normandy
Duchy of Normandy
The Duchy of Normandy stems from various Danish, Norwegian, Hiberno-Norse, Orkney Viking and Anglo-Danish invasions of France in the 9th century...
from the time of Rollo of Normandy
Rollo of Normandy
Rollo , baptised Robert and so sometimes numbered Robert I to distinguish him from his descendants, was a Norse nobleman of Norwegian or Danish descent and founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy...
to the battle of Tinchebray
Battle of Tinchebray
The Battle of Tinchebray was fought 28 September 1106, in the town of Tinchebray , Normandy, between an invading force led by Henry I of England, and his older brother Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy...
in 1106. It is a national epic
National epic
A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation; not necessarily a nation-state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with aspirations to independence or autonomy...
of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
.
Following the success of his Roman de Brut
Roman de Brut
Roman de Brut or Brut is a verse literary history of Britain by the poet Wace. Written in the Norman language, it consists of 14,866 lines....
which recounted the history of the English, Wace was apparently commissioned by Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
to write a similar account of the origins of the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
and their conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
. Wace abandons his tale before bringing it up to date, telling the reader in the final lines of Part III that the king had entrusted the same task to a Maistre Beneeit (believed to be Benoît de Sainte-More).
The work was started in the year 1160, and Wace seems to have performed his last revisions in the mid-1170s.
The work consists of:
- a 315-line account of the Dukes in reverse chronological order known as the Chronique Ascendante. This is believed by some scholars not be an original part of the Rou, but a separate work by Wace.
- a 4,425-line section in alexandrineAlexandrineAn alexandrine is a line of poetic meter comprising 12 syllables. Alexandrines are common in the German literature of the Baroque period and in French poetry of the early modern and modern periods. Drama in English often used alexandrines before Marlowe and Shakespeare, by whom it was supplanted...
s known as Part II - an 11,440-line section in octosyllableOctosyllableThe octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in iambs or trochees in languages with a stress accent. It is often used in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese poetry...
s known as Part III
A 750-line section known as Le Romaunz de Rou et des dus de Normendie appended in some editions appears to be an early draft, abandoned and later reworked into the final redaction.
Sources
Wace used as sources for his history of the Dukes of Normandy:- Gesta Normannorum DucumGesta Normannorum DucumGesta Normannorum Ducum is a chronicle originally created by the monk William of Jumièges just before 1060. In 1070 William I had William of Jumièges extend the work to detail his rights to the throne of England. In later times, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni Gesta Normannorum Ducum (Deeds...
- De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum by Dudo of Saint-QuentinDudo of Saint-QuentinDudo, or Dudon was a Norman historian, and dean of Saint-Quentin, where he was born about 965. Sent in 986 by Albert I, Count of Vermandois, on an errand to Richard I, Duke of Normandy, he succeeded in his mission, and, having made a very favorable impression at the Norman court, spent some years...
- Gesta Guillelmi by William of PoitiersWilliam of PoitiersWilliam of Poitiers was a Norman chronicler most famous for his eulogistic account of Duke William of Normandy , called the Gesta Guillelmi II ducis Normannorum.-Life:...
- Gesta regum Anglorum by William of MalmesburyWilliam of MalmesburyWilliam of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
- Brevis relatio de Guillelmo nobilissimo comtie Normannorum
- oral traditionOral traditionOral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
, including information from his father, and his own eyewitness
External Sources
- Norman-French text of Roman de Rou: http://www.archive.org/stream/maistrewacesrom01wacegoog/maistrewacesrom01wacegoog_djvu.txt
- Chronicle of the Norman Conquest from Roman de Rou translated by Edgar Taylor, 1837: http://www.1066.co.nz/library/master_wace.htm