that the poet was not comfortable with the decasyllable, a traditional meter of this genre,
and gradually moved to one that allowed more latitude.
The poem recounts how Aiol obtains the reinstatement of his father, Elie, a brother-in-
law of the king, banished from the court of Charlemagne’s son, Louis, by the intrigues of
the traitor Makaire de Losane, who is drawn and quartered at the end. Aubri de Trois-
Fontaines links Aiol to the Garin de Monglane cycle; indeed, the topic must already have
been widespread in the mid-12th century, since Aiol is mentioned by Guiraut de Cabrera
(d. ca. 1160) in his Ensenhamen as well as by Raimbaut d’Aurenga in a poem dated
- Aiol exists in a single manuscript in French, B.N. fr. 25516; it was adapted twice
into Middle Dutch in the 13th century; into Italian by Andrea da Barberino (ca. 1370-post
- in his Aiolfo; and into Spanish, in the second of six romances about the noble
knight Montesinos.
Hans-Erich Keller
Normand, Jacques, and Gaston Raynaud, eds. Aiol, chanson de geste. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1877.
Delbouille, Maurice. “Problèmes d’attribution et de composition: 1. De la composition d’Aiol.”
Revue belge de philologie et d’histoire 11(1932):45–75.
Finet van der Schaaf, Baukje. “Les deux adaptations en moyen néerlandais de la chanson d’Aiol.”
In Au carrefour des routes d’Europe: la chanson de geste. 2 vols. Aix-en-Provence: CUER MA,
1987, Vol. I, pp. 489–512.
Melli, Elio. “Nouvelles recherches sur la composition et la rédaction d’Aiol et d’Elie de Saint-
Gilles.” In Essor et fortune de la chanson de geste dans l’Europe et l’Orient latin: Actes du IXe
Congrès International de la Société Rencesvals. Modena: Mucchi, 1984, pp. 131–49.
AIRAINES
. The church of Notre-Dame at Airaines (Somme) was given to the Cluniac monks of
Saint-Martindes-Champs in Paris in 1118 or 1119, although the present building was
built only ca. 1130–40. The most interesting and oldest aspect of Airaines is the four-bay
nave. While the rectangular side aisles are covered with groin vaults, the main nave is
one of the earliest rib-vaulted structures in northern France. These vaults, domical in
shape, were inspired either by such early examples in Normandy as the chapter house at
Jumièges or by the nearly contemporary (but partly rebuilt) vaults at Lucheux (Somme).
The transept at Airaines was partly rebuilt in the 13th century. The partially collapsed
crossing vault was not rebuilt, whereas the rectangular chevet was rebuilt after the fire of
1422 and damaged again in the 16th century when the tower collapsed. The church still
houses a rare, rectangular baptismal font, dated by some scholars to the 11th century.
William W.Clark
Aubert, Marcel. “Airaines.” Congrès archéologique (Amiens) 99 (1936):459–67.
The Encyclopedia 29