TRISTAN DE NANTEUIL
. The last chanson de geste in the Nanteuil Cycle. Dating to the mid-14th century, Tristan
de Nanteuil is found in one manuscript of the 15th century (B.N. fr. 1478) and comprises
23,361 rhymed Alexandrines.
The poem begins with Gui de Nanteuil and Aiglentine leaving Nanteuil to rescue Aye
d’Avignon and her husband, Ganor. Aiglentine is captured and sold to the Sultan of
Babylon. Her son, Tristan, is separated from her but is saved by a siren, who feeds him
her miraculous milk. A hind also absorbs some of that milk and reaches a monstrous size.
It carries away Tristan and rears him in the wilds. While living in savage state, Tristan
captures Blanchandine, daughter of the king of Armenia, and has a son, Raimon, by her.
Blanchandine is eventually baptized and marries Tristan, but later, while disguised as a
knight, she is forced to marry Clarinde. Thinking Tristan has died, Blanchandine, before
the wedding night, allows herself to be changed into a man by an angel. Clarinde and
Blanchandin(e) have a son, Gilles. Gui and Aiglentine, on their way to reclaim their fief
of Nanteuil, are killed by the traitors Persant and Macaire. Aye d’Avignon dies of grief.
Charlemagne agrees to return the fiefs of Avignon and Nanteuil to the rightful heir,
Raimon. Tristan is killed by Garcion, his illegitimate son.
The author knew the previous poems of the cycle, since several of the well-known
members of the Nanteuil family participate in the poem’s multifarious adventures.
Although cast in the traditional epic mold, Tristan de Nanteuil is a complex poem that
includes many supernatural and fantastic elements and many important romance themes,
such as the Change of Sex, the Handless Maiden, and the Hermit Saint. In addition to the
poems of the Nanteuil Cycle, the author of Tristan must have known the Vie de saint
Gilles by Guillaume de Berneville, Guillaume de Palerne, Huon de Bordeaux, Chrétien’s
Erec, the Roman de la Violette, the Vie de saint Jean Bouche d’or, the Estoire de Merlin,
and Lion de Bourges.
Jean-Louis Picherit
[See also: CHANSON DE GESTE; HUON DE BORDEAUX; LATE EPIC;
NANTEUIL CYCLE]
Sinclair, Keith V., ed. Tristan de Nanteuil, chanson de geste inédite. Assen: Van Gorcum, 1971.
——. Tristan de Nanteuil: Thematic Infrastructure and Literary Creation. Tübingen: Niemeyer,
1983.
TRISTAN ROMANCES
. In the obscure origins of the Tristan legend, which forms an important branch of the
Matter of Britain, one can distinguish several strata. The hero is possibly of Pictish
origin: Drust, son of Talorc, who in Celtic became Drystan or Trystan. His story, linked
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1754