to make his ideals coincide with reality. But in spite of his scandalous rejection in the
name of love of the principles of feudal society, Aucassin becomes on the death of his
father an ideal ruler who keeps his domain safe from war (34). In addition, in spite of his
obsessive love for a Saracen captive, he has chosen a partner who is right for him and for
society.
The author refers to his text as a cantefable (41, 1.24), presumably a term he invented
to cover the mingling of verse and prose. The fable is the narrative itself, which is closely
associated with the lyrical and musical elements in the text. Each verse section is
prefaced by the formula Or se cante, and some musical notation is contained in the
manuscript. Analogues for the mingling of verse and prose can be located in other
literatures (e.g., Arabic, Celtic, Chinese, Latin, Provençal), and one finds, for example, a
good number of songs performed by the characters in Jean Renart’s Guillaume de Dole.
But the use of the seven-syllable line for the assonanced verse sections and the roughly
equal dose of verse and prose have no clear equivalents. Thematically, there are links
with other French texts, such as Floire et Blancheflor, Piramus et Tisbé, and the Tristan
romances, but everything suggests an author with a highly original mind and a superb
command of the themes and conventions of contemporary literature.
Glyn S.Burgess
Cobby, Anne E., ed., and Glyn S.Burgess, trans. The Pilgrimage of Charlemagne and Aucassin et
Nicolette. New York: Garland, 1988.
Dufournet, Jean, ed. Aucassin et Nicolette: édition critique. 2nd ed. Paris: Garnier-Flammarion,
1984.
Roques, Mario, ed. Aucassin et Nicolette: chantefable du XIIIe siècle. 2nd ed. Paris: Champion,
1935.
Sargent-Baur, Barbara Nelson, and Robert F.Cook. Aucassin et Nicolete: A Critical Bibliography.
London: Grant and Cutler, 1981.
AUDEFROI LE BÂTARD
(fl. first third of the 13th c.). One of the trouvères of Arras. The compositions attributed
to him, all surviving with their melodies, include ten chansons d’amour, a jeu-parti, a
lyrico-narrative dialogue with a forlorn lover, and five chansons de toile. The last
constitute Audefroi’s only notable contribution, representing a unique attempt to renew
that apparently old genre, partly through innovations in meter and homophony but chiefly
through narrative amplification and an accumulation of detail.
Samuel N.Rosenberg
[See also: CHANSON DE TOILE; TROUVÈRE POETRY]
Audefroi le Bâtard. Die Lieder und Romanzen des Audefroi le Bastard, kritische Ausgabe nach alle
Handschriften, ed. Arthur Cullmann. Halle: Niemeyer, 1914.
van der Werf, Hendrik, ed. Trouvères-Melodien II. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1979, pp. 446–82.
Zink, Michel. Belle: essai sur les chansons de toile, suivi d’une édition et d’une traduction. Paris:
Champion, 1977. [Includes melodies.]
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