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Bryan Gillingham and Paul Merkley. Ottawa: Institute of Medieval Music, 1990, pp. 28–74.
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Landes, Richard. The Deceits of History: The Life and Times of Ademar of Chabannes (989–1034).
Forthcoming.
ADENET LE ROI
(ca. 1240–ca. 1300). A popular professional poet of the late 13th century, Adenet is
known for four major works. He was old enough to have been trained as a court poet
before 1261, the year of the death of his first patron, Henri III, duke of Brabant and
trouvère. In 1270, he was in Flanders, where he met his new patron, Gui de Dampierre,
whom he accompanied to Tunis on the Eighth Crusade. His later travels led him across
France and frequently to Paris, the court of Philip the Bold and Marie of France, who also
influenced his literary activity. Of the four works known to be by Adenet, only the
romance Cleomadés can be dated with certainty, to 1285. His earlier production, all
chansons de geste, was completed after 1273–74. Beuvon de Conmarchis is probably the
earliest, followed by the Enfances Ogier and Berte aus grans piés in that order. The last
mention of Adenet appears in a document dated 1297.
Beuvon is considered to be the earliest of Adenet’s narratives because of its unpolished
style. Typical of the late chanson de geste, the laisses are monorhymed. Adenet adopts,
however, the Alexandrine and the short-line refrain of the Guillaume d’Orange cycle.
Beuvon is a reworking of the Siège de Barbastre, containing 3,945 lines and lacking a
conclusion. Neither truly romance nor epic, the story exhibits above all a propensity for
gallant adventures and praise of women.
Adenet’s second narrative, also a reworking, was ordered by Gui de Dampierre and
was enjoyed by Queen Marie of France, to whom Adenet sent a copy. Retaining the
monorhymed laisse, he reverts to the decasyllabic line without refrains. The Enfances
Ogier (9,229 lines) imitates the first branch of the Chevalerie Ogier. Adenet has
considerably improved in skill by concentrating on a few characters. Women retain the
place he set for them in Beuvon de Conmarchis.
Though the subject matter and form are epic, Berte aus grans piés is closer to
romance. The monorhymed laisses contain 3,486 Alexandrines. Conciseness and unity
characterize this narrative, which has earned praise from critics for its sensitive treatment
of the heroine, Berte.
Cleomadés, Adenet’s fourth and best-known narrative (twelve manuscripts and three
fragments survive), was inspired by Queen Marie and her sister-in-law Blanche of
France, widow of the son of King Alfonso X the Wise of Spain, who invited Adenet to
compose a story based on the tale of the magic ebony horse from the Arabian Nights.
Blanche could have come across the legend of the flying horse at Alfonso’s court in
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