Hans-Erich Keller
Andolf, Sven, ed. Floovent: chanson de geste du XIIe siècle. Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1941.
[With important preface, pp. i–lxii.]
Stricker, Eugen. Entstehung und Entwicklung der Floovant-Sage. Tübingen: Heckenhauer, 1909.
FLORENCE DE ROME
. A chanson de geste of 6,410 Alexandrine lines from the first quarter of the 13th century,
Florence de Rome is based on the legend of a virtuous married woman unjustly accused
of adultery by her brother-in-law, disowned by her husband, pursued by several men, and
falsely charged with murdering a child. She finally enters a convent, receives
extraordinary healing powers, and is vindicated when her oppressors, stricken by horrible
diseases, confess to their crimes. There are hundreds of versions of this story, both
oriental and occidental (the earliest ca. 1150 in the German Kaiserchronik). Other names
were given to Florence, notably Crescentia, Hildegarde, or Constantia. The poem was
reworked in monorhyming quatrains in the 14th century and was also incorporated into
the Pseudocycle of Dagobert in several 15th-century manuscripts, including B.N. fr.
24384.
Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski
[See also: DAGOBERT, PSEUDOCYCLE OF]
Wallensköld, Axel, ed. Florence de Rome: chanson d’aventure du premier quart du XIIIe siècle. 2
vols. Paris: Didot, 1909. [Vol. 1 offers a valuable study of the oriental connections of the legend
and its spread through Europe.]
Karl, Ludwig. “Florence de Rome et la vie de deux saints de Hongrie.” Revue des langues romanes
52(1909):163–80.
Stefanovic, Svetislav. “Die Crescentia-Florence Sage: Eine kritische Studie über ihren Ursprung
und ihre Entwicklung.” Romanische Forschungen 29(1911):461–556.
FLORENT ET OCTAVIEN
. One of several late-medieval epics inspired by the deeds of a pseudohistorical King
Dagobert and his foundation of the abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris, this one centering on
the adventures of the twin sons of a Roman emperor. The mid-14th-century poem of
some 18,5000 Alexandrines, based on an octosyllabic 13th-century Octavien (5,000
lines), was rewritten in prose for a Burgundian courtier, Jean de Créquy, in 1454. An
abbreviated version was printed several times during the 16th century, the last in 1592.
Charity Cannon Willard
[See also: DAGOBERT, PSEUDOCYCLE OF]
Laborderie, N., ed. Florent et Octavien. Paris: Champion, 1991.
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