A prose version survives in Arsenal 3351 (15th c.) and in an incunabulum of 1521 by
Jehan Trepperel; there also exist two prose renderings exclusively devoted to Galien
restore, the first in B.N. fr. 1470 (15th c.), the second in an incunabulum by Antoine
Vérard (1500) that was frequently reprinted from the 16th century to the 18th.
Galien is a chivalric romance that, despite the constant displacement of the action
(Vienne, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Genoa, Spain, Monfusain, etc.), is not without
literary merit, thanks to the constant presence of Galien in the narration and his
overriding intention: the restoration of his family.
Hans-Erich Keller
[See also: GAB; KING CYCLE]
Dougherty, David M., and Eugene B.Barnes, eds. Le Galien de Cheltenham. Amsterdam:
Benjamins, 1981. [Important introduction, pp. xvi–xxxi.]
Horrent, Jules. “Galien le Restore.” In La chanson de Roland dans les littératures française et
espagnole. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1951, pp. 377–412.
——. “Galien.” In Les épopées romanes, ed. Rita Lejeune. Grundriß des romanischen Mittelalters
3/1, fasc. 2. Heidelberg: Winter, 1981, pp. 47–48; 3/2, fasc. 2. Heidelberg: Winter, 1985, pp.
58–60.
GALLICAN RITE
. When Pepin III the Short (r. 751–68) and his son Charlemagne (r. 771–814) established
a uniform, Roman-derived liturgy throughout the Frankish kingdom, the older traditions
they were replacing came to be known collectively as the “Gallican” rite, though in fact
there was no uniform usage throughout the country but rather a network of more-or-less
related local practices. The destruction of Gallican liturgical books was so extensive that
we no longer possess the complete rite of any one locality and are forced to reconstruct
from a small amount of evidence.
The earliest evidence can be gleaned from writers who lived in Gaulish territory, such
as John Cassian (d. 435), Caesarius of Arles (d. 542), and Gregory of Tours (d. 594), as
well as from the canon-law literature and decrees of ecclesiastical councils. The oldest
actual liturgical book, a palimpsest fragment of the early 6th century, is part of a
lectionary that contained biblical readings and refrains for the responsorial psalms at
Mass throughout the liturgical year. Other lectionary fragments, as well as Bibles with
liturgical rubrics and collections of saints’ lives for reading on their feasts, survive from
the 7th and 8th centuries.
Better known are the sacramentaries, containing the Proper, or variable prayers, of the
Mass and other sacramental celebrations. Palimpsest fragments survive from as early as
the 6th century, but most informative are the relatively intact sources of the 8th century,
the manuscripts known as Missale Gothicum (from Autun?), Missale Gallicanum Vetus
(northeast of Paris?), Bobbio Missal (northern Italy), Missale Francorum (near Corbie?),
and Stowe Missal (Ireland). These sources show that Gallican prayers were more prolix
than those of the Roman liturgy and that there was much more variety from day to day
over the course of the liturgical year. They reveal varying amounts of Roman influence,
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