chronology it remains an important source of Anglo-French history. Robert’s narratives
are replete with accounts of the marvelous, and he was careful to avoid incorporating into
his histories any matter that would jeopardize the church, his monastery, or the
reputations of kings Henry I and Henry II. He was responsible for the annals of Mont-
Saint-Michel from 1135 to 1173, and he contributed significantly to the abbey’s
collection of cartulary documents.
E.Kay Harris
[See also: HISTORIOGRAPHY; MONT-SAINT-MICHEL; SIGEBERT DE
GEMBLOUX]
Robert de Torigny. Chronique et opuscules religieux, ed. Léopold Delisle. 2 vols. Rouen: Société
de l’Histoire de Normandie, 1872–73.
——. Gesta Normannorum ducum. In Guillaume de Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum ducum, ed.
Jean Marx. Rouen: Lestringant, 1914, pp. 199–334.
Chibnall, Marjorie. “Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni.” In Millénaire monastique du Mont-
Saint-Michel. 4 vols. Paris: Lethielleux, 1967, Vol. 2, pp. 133ff.
ROBERT LE DIABLE
. Hagiographical legend. Identified in medieval French literature as the son of a Norman
duke and duchess, Robert is Satan’s liege from birth because his mother, long barren, had
in desperation asked the Devil to give her a child. After a youth filled with violent crimes,
Robert suddenly repents and spends the rest of his life expiating his sins. In the earliest
French version, a hagiographical romance composed in the late 12th century (5,078 lines
in octosyllabic couplets; two manuscripts), he dies a holy hermit. In the 14th-century Dit
de Robert le diable (1,016 Alexandrines in 254 monorhymed quatrains; three
manuscripts), Robert marries the daughter of a Roman emperor after completing his
penance. From the Dit derive the later 14th-century Miracle de Robert le diable (2,279
verses, with speeches in octosyllabic couplets ending in a four-syllable cue-line) and a
15th-century French prose rendering extant in a dozen editions printed between 1496 and
1600, as well as adaptations in English, German, Dutch, and Spanish. Another version in
French prose, composed probably in the late 13th century, supplies the opening chapters
of the Chroniques de Normandie, found in numerous manuscripts and early printed
editions. The legend also appears among the Latin exempla collected by the 13th-century
Dominican, Étienne de Bourbon in his Tractatus de diversis materiis predicabilibus.
Mary B.Speer
[See also: MIRACLE PLAYS]
Breul, Karl, ed. “Le dit de Robert le diable.” In Abhandlungen Herrn Prof. Dr. Adolf Tobler...
Halle: Niemeyer, 1895, pp. 464–509. [Based on MS A (B.N. fr. 24432).]
Löseth, Eilert, ed. Robert le diable, roman d’aventures. Paris: Didot, 1903. [Based on MS A (B.N.
fr. 25516).]
Paris, Gaston, and Ulysse Robert, eds. Miracle de Robert le dyable. In Les miracles de Nostre
Dame par personnages. 8 vols. Paris:Didot, 1876–93, Vol. 6, pp. 1–77. [Based on B.N. fr. 820,
a collection of miracles written for the Paris guild of goldsmiths.]
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1520