Autpertus’s commentary on the Apocalypse, an ecclesiological interpretation
synthesized from Primasius, Tyconius, Augustine, Victorinus, and Jerome, circulated
widely in medieval France and was a major source for later exegetes. Autpertus also
wrote an allegory based on Prudentius, prayers, sermons, and saints’ lives.
E.Ann Matter
[See also: BIBLE, CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION OF]
Ambrosius Autpertus. Opera, ed. Robert Weber. CCCM 27, 27A, 27B. Turnhout: Brepols, 1975–
79.
——. Oratio summa et incomprehensibilis natura, ed. V. Federici. Fonti per la storia d’Italia
58(1925):3–15.
Leclercq, Jean. “La prière au sujet des vices et des vertus.” Studia anselmiana 31(1953):3–17.
Leonardi, Claudio. “Spiritualità di Ambrogio Autperto.” Studi medievali 3rd ser. 9(1968):1–13.
Winandy, Jacques. Ambroise Autpert, moine et théologien. Paris: Plon, 1953.
AMI ET AMILE
. This 3,504-line chanson de geste (divided into 177 decasyllabic laisses partly
assonanced, partly rhymed, and each concluding with a six-syllable, feminine vers
orphelin), composed ca. 1200, tells the story of the superhuman friendship of two young
nobles, Ami and Amile. Born on the same day in different families, they are physically
identical. At the age of fifteen, they meet and become sworn friends and companions.
After entering the service of Charlemagne, they quickly distinguish themselves. Ami
obtains the hand of Lubias, lady of Blaye and niece of a traitor, Hardré. It is a disastrous
marriage. Meanwhile, a daughter of Charlemagne, Belissant, having fallen hopelessly in
love with Amile, sneaks into his bed and lets herself be seduced by him. The lovers are
denounced by Hardré, always envious of the friends’ success. Amile must prove his
innocence in a judiciary duel. Ami replaces him in this duel, swearing (rightly) that he
has never slept with Belissant. He wins the duel, and Charlemagne offers him the hand of
Belissant. Since he accepts, despite the admonishment by an angel, he commits technical
bigamy and becomes a leper. Although protected by his young son, Gérard, he is driven
out of his home by the evil Lubias. Accompanied by two ever-faithful servants, he
wanders in search of Amile, now happily married to Belissant. Following a series of
adventures, the two friends meet. An angel appears again to Ami to show him the only
remedy against his shameful disease: Amile must sacrifice his two young sons and wash
his friend in their blood. The superhuman friendship cannot be refused anything, and
Amile does as he is told. Ami recovers immediately. God, rewarding the father’s heroic
act, restores his children to life. Shortly after, Ami and Amile die in Lombardy upon their
return from the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They are buried in Mortara.
The exact origin of this work cannot be determined, but it is obvious that folkloric,
hagiographic, romance, and epic elements entered into its composition. The legend,
preserved in at least two Latin and numerous foreign versions, was popular, surely
because of its strong thematic components: the absolute friendship of the identical
“twins,” the Isaac-like child sacrifice, the miraculous cure from leprosy, and probably the
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 56