DOON DE MAYENCE
. A chanson de geste consisting of two parts: Les enfances Doon and Doon de Mayence.
The first part may have been composed after 1250, possibly as late as the early 14th
century, and the second part after 1250. The Enfances has 6,038 lines and the second
part, 5,467, and both are in rhymed Alexandrines. They survive in three manuscripts
(Montpellier, Faculté de medicine, H. 247, ff. 1–46, mid-14th c.; Paris, B.N. fr. 12563,
15th c., and B.N. fr. 1637, 15th c., incomplete). This epic enjoyed wide popularity and
was printed, in a prose version, during the 16th century and beyond.
Doon defends his mother against the attempts of traitors who want to usurp the
family’s fief. He spends several years in a forest with his father, who has become a
hermit. A rebel vassal of Charles, Doon receives permission to fight the Saxons. He
conquers Flandrine and marries her.
This poem makes allusions to Garin de Monglane, the Chevalier au Cygne, and
Chrétien’s Perceval.
Jean-Louis Picherit
Pey, Alexandre, ed. Doon de Maience, chanson de geste. Paris: Vieweg, 1859. [Based on
Montpellier H 247.]
DORAT, LE
. The collegiate church of Saint-Pierre in Le Dorat (Haute-Vienne) is the most impressive
of extant Romanesque churches in the Limousin; elegant decorative arcades and vigorous
carving enliven the starkness of the local granite. Most striking are the octagonal lantern
tower with its trilobed blind arcade and high spire topped by a gilded angel, the polylobed
oculus of the cupola of the crossing, and the scalloped archivolts of the western portal
(original ironwork on doors). The entrance bay (cupola beneath a bell tower, lateral
arcades) is similar to those of La Souterraine, Saint-Junien, and Bénévent; twelve stairs
descend to the pointed barrel-vaulted nave (the narrow side aisles are groin-vaulted),
transept with apsidioles, and choir with ambulatory and three radiating chapels. Other
notable features include the crypt (11th c.), treasury, early font, and remnants of
fortifications (15th c.).
Jean M.French
Fage, René. “Le Dorat.” Congrès archéologique (Limoges) 84 (1921):170–200.
Maury, Jean, Marie-Madeleine Gauthier, and Jean Porcher. Limousin roman. 3rd ed. La Pierre-qui-
vire: Zodiaque, 1990.
Schneider P.Le Dorat. La Pierre-qui-vire: Zodiaque, 1964.
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