magnificent goblet, decorated with scenes from the story of Paris and Helen, and is
smuggled into the tower in a basket of flowers. He is later discovered by the Emir, who,
however, forgives the couple and joins them in marriage. On return to his homeland,
Floire becomes king and converts to Christianity.
The popular version stresses the battle skills of the hero but curtails description of
objects and settings. Floire wins over the Emir by defending Babylon against his enemy,
the story ending with this victory. The courtly version contains references to the works of
Ovid, Virgil, and the vernacular Alexander romance Apollonius de Tyr. As the owner of
the magnificent goblet, Floire becomes part of a heroic line of descent, from Vulcan, its
creator, to Aeneas, an earlier owner. The tale’s popularity is attested by its translation
into a variety of languages, including Dutch, German, Yiddish, Middle English, Italian,
and Spanish.
Meg Shepherd
[See also: ALEXANDER ROMANCES; APOLLONIUS DE TYR; AUCASSIN ET
NICOLETTE]
Leclanche, Jean-Luc, ed. Le conte de Floire et Blancheflor. Paris: Champion, 1980. [Courtly
version.]
Pelan, Margaret M., ed. Floire et Blancheflor: seconde version: ed. du ms. 19152 du fonds français
avec introd., notes, et glossaire. Paris: Ophrys, 1975. [Popular version.]
Leclanche, Jean-Luc, trans. Le conte de Floire et Blanchefleur. Paris: Champion, 1986.
Kibler, William W. “Archetypal Imagery in Floire et Blancheflor.” Romance Quarterly
35(1988):11–20.
Leclanche, Jean-Luc. “La date du conte de Floire et Blancheflor.” Romania 92(1971):556–67.
FLOOVENT
. Composed in Burgundy at the end of the 12th century in 2,534 assonanced
Alexandrines, the chanson de geste Floovant combines the themes of the exiled hero and
the Saracen princess who, having fallen in love with the hero, frees him from her father’s
prison and abandons her religion in order to marry him. It is found in Montpellier 441
and in two fragments in Freiburg (all three of the 14th c.). It was translated into Middle
Dutch, Icelandic, and Italian.
King Clovis’s son, Floovant, is banished by his father for having cut off his teacher’s
beard; with his squire, Richier, he enters the service of King Flore of Alsatia, who, upon
learning that Floovant has saved his daughter from the Saracens, gives him the sword
Joïeuse and the command of an army against the pagan King Galien. Floovant eventually
weds the latter’s daughter, while Richier, knighted, receives the hand of King Flore’s
daughter, Florete. When they learn that Clovis has been attacked by Galien at Soissons,
Floovant, Richier, and the twelve peers hasten with an army to succor him; then, after a
battle in which at one point—unknown to each other—Clovis fights his own son, Galien
is killed, and Floovant is crowned Clovis’s eventual successor. Attempts to link the story
to Merovingian history, especially to Clotar II (584–629) and his son Dagobert I (608–
638/39) have failed.
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