Provence, victor over the Muslims in 972, marks the point of encounter between the
traditions relative to Guillaume de Toulouse and the Occitan region.
The reworked version, found in nine cyclical manuscripts, is directly tied to the
Charroi de Nîmes, which serves as its point of departure. Once installed in Nîmes,
Guillaume becomes bored: the Saracens are no longer rebellious, there are no women or
minstrels around. Thus, when Guillebert de Laon, who has just escaped from Or-ange,
praises the charms of the town and the beautiful Orable, the hero determines to win them
both. He reaches Orange in disguise, with Guillebert and his nephew Guielin, and
manages to speak with Orable. Unmasked by a fugitive from Nîmes, he locks himself
within the tower Gloriete, convinces Orable to arm the Christians, but is captured. Orable
is given charge of the prisoners while a deputation is sent to her husband Thibaut, who,
except in a single late manuscript, never arrives. Orable frees the prisoners, who are
recaptured but manage to escape again and send Guillebert to Nîmes for help.
Guillaume’s nephew Bertrand arrives with an army, and after a short battle the Christians
are victorious and Guillaume weds Orable.
Borrowing certain motifs from the Charroi, such as the use of disguise that allows the
hero to praise himself before Orable, the Prise is a courtly and humorous, rather than
parodic, retelling of a knightly expedition. Love pangs torment Guillaume from the
moment he hears Guillebert’s tale, and if in his desire for conquest he constantly
associates Orange and Orable it seems clear that he undertakes to win the city par amistié
(“for love,” 1. 1,564). Related to the theme of the amorous Saracen princess, the hero’s
conduct, constantly mocked by his two companions, shows his character in a new light
and gives the poem a heroiccomic tone.
François Suard
[See also: CHANSON DE GESTE; CHARROI DE NÎMES; GUILLAUME
D’ORANGE CYCLE]
Régnier, Claude, ed. Les rédactions en vers de La prise d’Orange. Paris: Klincksieck, 1968.
Frappier, Jean. Les chansons de geste du cycle de Guillaume d’Orange. 2 vols. Paris: Société
d’Édition d’Enseignement Supérieur, 1965, Vol. 2, pp. 255–317.
Lachet, Claude. La prise d’Orange ou la parodie courtoise d’une épopée. Paris: Champion, 1986.
PRIVATE WAR
. The phenomenon of private war reveals essential aspects of medieval French society
and government, particularly those relating to chivalry, violence, and the growth of royal
sovereignty. Private war in fact existed long before it took on codified form in law. The
ancient Germanic feud generated a thriving medieval offspring that flourished in the post-
Carolingian decay of royal authority and blossomed into a recognized droit de guerre
during what Marc Bloch called the “first feudal age.” The chivalric ethos glorified the
defense of honor through violence. As the legal writer Philippe de Beaumanoir
acknowledged in the late 13th century, “Gentlemen may make war according to our
custom.” It was a cherished right, insisted upon as a sign of noble status and freedom,
exercised vigorously by lords who viewed fighting as one of the chief joys and most
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