Gui de Nanteuil was composed after Aye d’Avignon, of which it is the continuation,
and probably before 1207. One almost complete manuscript survives from the 14th
century (Montpellier, Fac. de Méd. H 247); another 14th-century manuscript contains a
less satisfactory version (Venice, Bibl. Naz. di San Marco fr. 10), and there is also a
fragment of 350 lines (Florence, Bibl. Naz. II, IV, 588). The version of the chanson
preserved in the Montpellier manuscript has 2,913 rhymed Alexandrine lines.
Gui, the son of Aye and Garnier, goes to Charlemagne’s court and is made standard-
bearer, which causes spite among Ganelon’s relatives; one of them, Hervieu, accuses Gui
of murder. Aiglentine, daughter of King Yon of Gasco-ny, falls in love with Gui. The
traitors manage to put Gui on bad terms with the emperor, who supports Hervieu for the
princess’s hand. Gui captures her and flees. Charles and Hervieu set out in pursuit and lay
siege to Nanteuil, where Gui and Aiglentine have found refuge. Ganor and Aye come to
Gui’s rescue, and Hervieu is killed. Peace is made with Charlemagne, who attends the
wedding of Gui and Aiglentine.
In addition to Aye d’Avignon, the author was familiar with some episodes from the
Quatre fils Aymon and was also strongly influenced by romance.
Parise la duchesse, composed after 1225 and probably before the middle of the 13th
century, is preserved in only one manuscript (B.N. fr. 1374; 3,105 assonanced
Alexandrines). Parise, sister of Gui de Nanteuil, is exposed to the hatred of Ganelon’s
relatives, who accuse her of poisoning her husband’s brother, Beuve. She is persecuted
and exiled to Hungary, where she has a son, Hugues. He is raised at the royal court of
Hungary. After many years of suffering and adventures, Parise meets up again, in Co-
logne, with her son and with Raymond de Saint-Gilles, her husband. The traitors are
caught and executed. This poem is cast in the traditional epic mold but includes many
nonepic elements, notably the part played by the bourgeois and the adventures of a
woman with her son. The main goal of the chanson is to entertain. It is superficially
linked with Aye and Gui and shows the influence of Gaidon, Quatre fils Aymon, Doon de
la Roche, and possibly of an older version of Boeve de Haumtone.
Tristan de Nanteuil, the last poem of the Nanteuil Cycle, draws some material from
the previous poems of the geste and is directly linked to Gui de Nanteuil.
Jean-Louis Picherit
[See also: AYE D’AVIGNON; CHANSON DE GESTE; QUATRE FILS AYMON;
REBELLIOUS VASSAL CYCLE; TRISTAN DE NANTEUIL]
McCormack, James R., ed. Gui de Nanteuil, chanson de geste. Geneva: Droz, 1970. [Based on
Montpellier H 247, Venice fr. 10, and Florence fragment.]
Plouzeau, May, ed. Parise la duchesse, chanson de geste du XIIIe siècle. Aix-en-Provence: CUER
MA, 1986.
NARBONNAIS. The Narbonnais, a 13th-century chanson de geste of 8,063 rhyming decasyllables,
combines two traditions. The first relates how Aymeri, who considers personal valor to
be the basis for acquiring power or land, sends his six older sons away from Narbonne to
achieve their preordained functions in life. Sent to Charlemagne’s court, Bernard
becomes his private adviser, Hernaut his seneschal, William his standard-bearer; Bueves
is to win Gascony, Garin Lombardy, and Aïmer Spain, which he will never manage to
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