is taken prisoner. Most of Charlemagne’s peers follow Oliver and are likewise captured
by the emir, among others Gui de Bourgogne, with whom Fierabras’s sister Floripas had
already fallen in love after seeing him fight under the walls of Rome. Love scenes and
battles between the Saracens and Christians follow until at last the emir himself is
captured. Spain is then divided between Gui (and Floripas) and Fierabras, and
Charlemagne has the relics brought to Saint-Denis, where they will be exhibited annually
during the Lendit fair. The chest of relics, the true “hero” of the poem, serves to combine
(at 1. 1,260) two older stories, which narrate the destruction of Rome and duel between
Fierabras and Oliver, with a more recent second part inspired by a variety of chansons de
geste.
In its Old French version, the poem is preserved in four manuscripts. More often than
any other chanson de geste, Fierabras has been adapted to different environments and
times. The earliest adaptation (5,084 Occitan Alexandrines) was composed between 1218
and 1230 in the Toulouse region. The Italian Cantari di Fierabraccia e Ulivieri date from
the 15th and 16th centuries. A Middle Dutch version is attested for the 14th century, as is
the Middle English Sir Firumbras (1357–77). The Sowdon of Babylon, narrating the
Destruction of Rome episode as well as the romantic second part in Spain, is of the first
half of the 15th century. Fierabras, the first chanson de geste to find its way into print in
the 15th century, was, according to Cervantes, a favorite of Don Quixote.
The most important transformation of the Fierabras story appears in the three-part
French prose adaptation, the Histoire de Charlemagne by Jehan Bagnyon (Geneva, ca.
1475). The first part deals with the legendary origins of France and traces its history
through the reigns of the Merovingians to Charlemagne; Bagnyon dwells on the latter’s
legendary pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Constantinople by rendering the old poem of the
Voyage de Charlemagne into prose. The second and longest part narrates the story line of
Fierabras, and the third summarizes Vincent de Beauvais’s version of the Pseudo-Turpin
chronicle, with emphasis on the Battle of Roncevaux. An immediate success, the work
was frequently reedited through the 19th century.
Hans-Erich Keller
[See also: KING CYCLE; VOYAGE DE CHARLEMAGNE A JERUSALEM ET À
CONSTANTINOPLE]
Bagnyon, Jehan. L’histoire de Charlemagne (parfois dite “Roman de Fierabras”), ed. Hans-Erich
Keller. Geneva: Droz, 1992.
Bekker, Immanuel, ed. Der Roman von Fierabras, provenzalisch. Berlin: Reimer, 1829.
I cantari di Fierabraccia e Ulivieri: Italienische Bearbeitung der chanson de geste Fierabras.
Marburg: Elwert, 1881.
Kroeber, A., and G.Servois, eds. Chanson de Fierabras. Paris: Vieweg, 1860.
Marinoni, Maria Carla, ed. “Fierabras” anonimo in prosa: Parigi, B.N. mss. [fr.] 2172, 4969.
Milan: Cisalpino-La Goliardica, 1979.
Miquet, Jean, ed. Fierabras: roman en prose de la fin du XIVe siècle publié d’après les manuscrits
fonds français 4969 et 2172 de la Bibliothèque Nationale a Paris. Ottawa: Éditions de
l’Université d’Ottawa, 1983.
Horrent, Jules. “Chanson de Roland et Geste de Charlemagne.” In Les épopées romanes, ed. Rita
Lejeune. Heidelberg: Winter, 1981, pp. 24–25 [La destruction de Rome], 34–36 [Fierabras].
Mandach, André de. Naissance et développement de la chanson de geste en Europe. 6 vols.
Geneva: Droz, 1961–93, Vol. 5: La geste de Fierabras: le jeu du réel et de l’invraisemblable,
avec des textes inédits.
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