in his native Hainaut. His effigy is still to be seen in the chapel of Saint-Calixte in Mons,
and his exploits are recalled annually by a procession in nearby Wasmes. Gilbert de
Mons recorded his deeds in the Chronicon Hanoniense (ca. 1195–1221), and Gautier de
Tournai celebrated them in a 13th-century poem of which only a 16th-century manuscript
remains. A 15th-century prose version is preserved in two manuscripts, one of which, in
Lille (Fonds Godefroy 134), is illustrated by the celebrated Wavrin Master. Marks of
ownership further identify it with the Burgundian counselor, historian, and bibliophile
Jean de Wavrin. Although the anonymous author of this prose version generally follows
the earlier poem, he adds contemporary personages to the story and elaborates scenes
from contemporary life. The tale belongs to a group that celebrates local heroes,
including Gérard de Nevers, Gilles de Trazignies, and Jacques de Lalaing. Copies of all
of these were made in the Lille workshop of the Wavrin Master.
Charity Cannon Willard
Gautier de Tournai. Histoire de Gille de Chyn, ed. Edwin B. Place. Evanston: Northwestern
University Press, 1941.
Doutrepont, Georges. Les mises en prose des épopées et des romans chevaleresques du XIVe au
XVIe siècles. Brussels: Académie Royale de Belgique, 1940.
Liégeois, Camille. Gilles de Chin, l’histoire et la légende. Louvain: Peeters: 1903.
GIRART D’AMIENS
(fl. 1280–1305). A familiar of the courts of Edward I of England and Philip the Fair of
France, Girart is known to us only through the prologues of his three lengthy poems. His
romance Escanor (25,936 octosyllables, with lacunae) was dedicated ca. 1280 to Eleanor
of Castile, Edward’s queen; Meliacin or the Cheval de fust, (19,159 octosyllables with
twenty-four intercalated lyrics) was composed at the command of Gaucher V de
Châtillon shortly after 1285; and Charlemagne (over 23,000 Alexandrines; ca. 1303–06)
was written for Charles of Valois, brother of Philip the Fair. Escanor, perhaps conceived
as a sequel to the Atre périlleux, is an Arthurian romance whose two main themes are the
love affair of Kay and Andrivete of Northumberland and the enmity of Gawain and
Escanor. Meliacin is a non-Arthurian romance based on the eastern legend of the Ebony
Horse (from the Arabian Nights), found also in Adenet le Roi’s Cleomadés. Both poems
were inspired by Blanche of France, daughter of St. Louis and daughter-in-law of
Alfonso X the Wise of Spain, after her return to France as a widow. Charlemagne, extant
in three manuscripts but still largely unedited, is presented as a continuation of Adenet le
Roi’s Berte aus grans piés. It has three principal parts: Charlemagne’s youth (inspired by
the epic Mainet); the exploits of Roland, Ogier, and Naimes, followed by Charlemagne’s
voyage to the Holy Land; and a rhymed version of the Pseudo-Turpin chronicle.
William W.Kibler
[See also: ADENET LE ROI; ARTHURIAN VERSE ROMANCE; GAWAIN
ROMANCES]
Girart d’Amiens. Escanor: roman arthurien en vers de la fin du XIIIe siècle, ed. Richard Trachsler.
2 vols. Geneva: Droz, 1994.
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