Cordova. In a final step, in the 14th or early 15th century, the epic of Girart de Vienne,
reworked and amplified with the story of Hernaut de Beaulande’s and Renier’s youthful
exploits, is associated (in the so-called Cheltenham manuscript) in the Geste de
Monglane with Galien restoré.
The historical basis of the Narbonne poems is less easy to determine than that of the
epics about Guillaume. Aymeri recalls no specific model; progressively, however, he
becomes associated with several early 12th-century viscounts of Narbonne of the same
name. Aïmer goes back perhaps to Hadhemarus, a companion of Guillaume de Toulouse
who took part in the Barcelona campaign, then fought at Tortose (809–10).
The differences are great from poem to poem. One can find archaic epic motifs
(division of the fief among sons, hero’s fury, exaggerated vows), but the cycle is
dominated by the spirit of the adventure romance, in the sense that love frequently plays
an important role. Several figures predominate: Hernaut de Gironde (Gerona, in
Catalonia), a savage and impetuous character; Aymeri, a violent young man in Girart de
Vienne and a family leader urging his sons to bravery in the Narbonnais; the mysterious
Aïmer, who vows, like Vivien, to never spend the night in a house and to fight the
Saracens to the end.
François Suard
[See also: ALISCANS; AYMERI DE NARBONNE; BERTRAND DE BAR-SUR-
AUBE; CHANSON DE GESTE; CHARROI DE NÎMES; COURONNEMENT DE
LOUIS; GALIEN RESTORE; GUILLAUME, CHANSON DE; MONIAGE GUILLAUME;
NARBONNAIS; PRISE D’ORANGE]
Becker, Philippe-Auguste. Das Werden der Wilhelm und der Aimerigeste. Leipzig: Hirzel, 1939.
Bédier, Joseph. Les légendes épiques. 4 vols. Paris: Champion, 1908, Vol. 1.
Frappier, Jean. Les chansons de geste du cycle de Guillaume d’Orange. 3 vols. Paris: SEDES,
1955–83.
Guidot, Bernard. Recherches sur la chanson de geste au XIIIe siècle. 2 vols. Aix-en-Provence:
Université de Provence, 1986.
Tyssens, Madeleine. La geste de Guillaume d’Orange dans les manuscrits cycliques. Paris: Les
Belles Lettres, 1967.
——. “Relectures de la geste des Narbonnais.” Au carrefour des routes d’Europe: la chanson de
geste. Xe Congrès International de la Société Rencesvals, ed. Jean Subrenat. 2 vols. Aix-en-
Provence: CUER MA, 1987, Vol. 1, pp. 163–95.
Wathelet-Willem, Jeanne, ed. Recherches sur La chanson de Guillaume: études accompagnées
d’une édition. 2 vols. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1975, Vol. 1.
GUILLAUME DURAND
(ca. 1230–1296). Liturgist, canonlaw scholar, and ecclesiastical judge, Guillaume Durand
studied in Paris and Bologna and served in a number of ecclesiastical functions before
being chosen bishop of Mende in 1285. Among his legal writings, the Speculum judiciale
(ca. 1271) is a masterly summation of ecclesiastical juridical practices, the Speculum
legatorum (1279) analyzes the rights and procedures of legates, and the Repertorium iuris
canonici is a digest of canon law. Guillaume’s most influential work is the Rationale
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