continue his studies; he expresses his gratitude, good
wishes, and regrets to the people of Arras. His departure
is by choice and not due to disease, as with the other
two congés. In Feuillée, he also mentions his imminent
departure for Paris, though it is not possible to know if
he ever actually went.
During his lifetime, Adam’s fame stemmed equally
from his musical and poetic skills. Many of his melodies
and lyrics have been preserved in versions that often
resemble each other more closely than is normally the
case with trouvère compositions, implying perhaps
that they may have been copied from one model even
though such a model has not survived. In addition to
the typical songs for one voice, Adam also wrote music
for fi ve motets for three voices, fourteen rondeaux, and
two other refrain songs, suggesting that he probably
knew how to read and write music, a rare phenomenon
among the trouvères.
Even though he must be considered one of the most
versatile poets and composers of his time, no document
survives that dates any event in the life of this prolifi c
artist. However, Baude Fastoul, another trouvère of
Arras, mentions him in a work dated 1272. Adam died
between January 7,1285, the date of the death of Charles
of Anjou, for whom Adam began to compose Le Roi de
Sicile, and before February 2, 1289, the date on which
the copyist Jean Madot, upon fi nishing a transcription of
the Roman de Troie, boasts of being the nephew of Adam
le Bossu, who had died recently far from Arras.
Further Reading
Adam de la Halle. CEuvres complètes du trouvère Adam de la
Halle: poésies et musique, ed. Edmond de Coussemaker. Paris:
A. Durand et Pedone-Lauriel, 1872.
——. Le jeu de la feuillée, ed. Ernest Langlois. Paris: Champion,
1965.
––––. Le jeu de Robin et Marion suivi du jeu du Pélerin, ed.
Ernest Langlois. Paris: Champion, 1965.
––––. Le jeu de la feuillée and Le jeu de Robin et de Marion, in
Medieval French Plays, trans. Richard Axton and John Ste-
vens. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1971, pp. 205–302.
––––. The Chansons of Adam de la Halle, ed. John Henry Mar-
shall. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1971.
––––. The Lyrics and Melodies of Adam de la Halle, ed. and
trans. Deborah H. Nelson; music ed. Hendrik van der Werf.
New York: Garland, 1985.
Deborah H. Nelson
ADAM OF BREMEN
(fl. 2nd half of the 11th c.)
Author of the Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae Pontifi -
cum (History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen),
Adam of Bremen is widely regarded as one of the fi nest
historians of the Early Middle Ages, yet little is known
about the man himself beyond the hints and allusions
embedded in his history and its extensive marginalia.
These suggest that Adam was born in Franconia and
was probably trained in the cathedral school of either
Bamberg or Würzburg. In 1066/1067 he joined the
church of Bremen, having been recruited by the mercu-
rial and ambitious Archbishop Adalbert (1043–1072),
who probably saw in him a means to improve the literary
reputation of his see. By 1069, Adam was in charge of
the cathedral school at Bremen, appearing in a docu-
ment as magister scolarum (master of learning). Soon
thereafter, Adam began working on his Gesta. In his
search for information on the history of his church and
its privileges, he drew upon—often quite critically—a
wide range of sources including Carolingian hagiogra-
phy, diplomata, papal letters, and the accounts of eye-
witnesses such as King Sven II Estridsen of Denmark,
one of Adam’s principal informants on the peoples of
and Christian missions to Scandinavia. Completed just
after Adalbert’s death (1072), the fi rst “edition” of the
history (1075/1076) was dedicated to Adalbert’s suc-
cessor Liemar (1072–1101). Adam continued to revise
and augment his history in marginalia until his death
in the early 1080s.
In the fi rst two of the four books comprising his work,
Adam traced the history of the church of Hamburg-Bre-
men from its foundation in the eighth century until 1043,
attentively documenting the vicissitudes of its wealth
and power in the region and the role played by its bish-
ops in the politics of the German Reich. In book 3, Adam
turned to the pontifi cate of Bishop Adalbert and rendered
a portrait of his late patron that is remarkable for its
subtle portrayal of this tragic, complex man; indeed,
it is recognized as a milestone in medieval biography.
Having repeatedly highlighted his church’s leading role
in the conversion of the northern peoples to Christi-
anity, Adam devoted the whole of book 4 to detailed
descriptions of the geography, people, and customs of
the Scandinavian lands as well as the progress of mis-
sionary efforts in those areas. Although perhaps intended
to aid and inspire later missionaries, Adam’s relatively
balanced account of these non-Christian peoples makes
his work a monument of medieval geographical writing
and one of the most important sources of information
concerning pre-Christian Scandinavia.Further Reading
Adam of Bremen. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bre-
men, trans. F. J. Tschan. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1959.
——. Magistri Adam Bremensis Gesta Hammaburgensis Eccle-
siae Pontifi cum, ed. B. Schmeidler. Monumenta Germaniae
istorica. Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum 2. Hannover:
Hahn, 1917.
Misch, Georg. Geschichte der Autobiographie, vol. 3, pt. 1. Frank-
furt am Main: G. Schulte-Bulmke, 1959, pp. 168–214.ADAM OF BREMEN