Foix by Michel Colombe (1499) and has more than a hundred bas-reliefs depicting the
story of the Old Testament and parts of the New. The church of Saint-Michel was begun
in the 13th century, as was the convent of the Cordeliers, and enlarged in the 14th and
15th. A choir school built for the study of psalms and chorales, the Psalette, dates from
the end of the 15th century. The Duke’s Castle, constructed in the 10th century over part
of the Gallo-Roman wall, was rebuilt in the 13th century and again in 1466 under
François II (r. 1458–88); the bridges over the Loire were a constant source of
expenditure.
The population of Nantes, living in seven parishes, may have reached a peak of
15,000. The city was a trading rather than industrial center; control of the wine and salt
traffic on the Loire can be traced from Carolingian days. Nantes, with Rennes and
Vannes, was an administrative center of the duchy. This created wealth and employment.
A university was founded in 1460, and the presence of the ducal court encouraged a
burgeoning cultural life.
Michael C.E.Jones/Stephen C.Martin
[See also: BRITTANY]
Bois, Paul, ed. Histoire de Nantes. Toulouse: Privat, 1977.
Gisler, Claude, and Françoise Oliver-Michel. A Guide to the Art Treasures of France, trans.
Raymond Rudorff. London: Methuen, 1966.
NANTEUIL CYCLE
. One of the lesser-known epic cycles, the Nanteuil Cycle comprises five poems
composed between the end of the 12th century and the middle of the 14th: Doon de
Nanteuil, Aye d’Avignon, Gui de Nanteuil, Parise la duchesse, and Tristan de Nanteuil.
The eponymous hero of Doon de Nanteuil is identified by the author of Gaufrey, a
13th-century chanson de geste, as one of the twelve sons of Doon de Mayence, thus
linking this first chanson to the Rebellious Vassal Cycle. The poem, dating to the end of
the 12th century, is preserved only in the 220 nonconsecutive lines copied in the 16th
century by Claude Fauchet from a 13th-century remaniement by Huon de Villeneuve.
The 19th-century scholar Paul Meyer reconstructed the sketchy plot: war breaks out
between Doon and Charlemagne; Doon’s son, Bérart, is killed by Duke Naime’s son, sent
as ambassador by the emperor; Doon has to leave Nanteuil and finds refuge in Apulia,
where Charles attempts to reach him.
Doon’s offspring are the protagonists of the other poems in the cycle. Aye d’Avignon,
composed between 1195 and 1205, survives in only one complete manuscript (B.N. fr.
2170); two fragments, from two different manuscripts, are also preserved. In 4,132
assonanced and rhymed Alexandrines divided into 179 unequal laisses, the author of Aye
d’Avignon endeavors, superficially, to link his poem to the Roland and alludes to
episodes from the Quatre fils Aymon. There is also evidence that he was familiar with
Jehan Bodel’s Chanson des Saisnes and with the Guillaume d’Orange Cycle. At the same
time, the techniques of the romance permeate his poem.
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