ATHIS ET PROPHILIAS
. A verse romance from the end of the 12th century by Alexandre (de Bernay?), extant in
two versions of varying length. It relates the friendship of the Athenian knight Athis and
the Roman Prophilias and their common love for the beautiful Cardionès.
Keith Bate
Alexandre. Li romans d’Athis et Prophilias, ed. Alfons Hilka. 2 vols. Halle and Dresden:
Gesellschaft für romanische Liter-atur, 1912–16.
AUBERT, DAVID
(b. before 1413, fl. 1453–79). Born into a family of prosperous, literate public servants,
Aubert became a prolific calligrapher, translator, and literary adapter at the Burgundian
court. Books copied by his fa-ther, Jean Aubert, and a brother of the same name are also
known. In 1463, Aubert is mentioned as one of the duke of Burgundy’s scribes for the
first time. He is especially known for copies of Charles Martel (Brussels, Bibl. Roy. 6–9)
and Perceforest (Paris, Arsenal, 3483–94), and for his compilations, the Croniques et
conquestes de Charlemaine (Bibl. Roy. 9066–68), begun for an early sponsor, Jean V de
Créquy, but completed for Philip the Good, and for a Chronique des empereurs (Arsenal
5089). Some twenty manuscripts are attributed to his hand. In 1469, after Philip the
Good’s death, he helped inventory the ducal library.
Charity Cannon Willard
[See also: AYMERI DE NARBONNE; PERCEFOREST]
Cockshaw, Pierre. “La famille du copiste David Aubert.” Scriptorium 22(1968):279–87.
Delaissé, L.M.J. La miniature flamande, le mécénat de Philippe le Bon. Brussels: Bibliothèque
Royale, Belgique, 1959.
Doutrepont, Georges. La littérature française a la cour des ducs de Bourgogne. Paris: Champion,
1909.
AUCASSIN ET NICOLETTE
. Chantefable of the early 13th century. Extant in only one manuscript (B.N. fr. 2168),
this anonymous work is one of the most unusual and, for modern audiences, one of the
most popular of all Old French texts. It consists of twenty-one verse sections alternating
with twenty in prose. It is normally dated to the first half of the 13th century, but a
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