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A New Manuscript of the “Récits D'un Ménestrel de Reims”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2021
Extract
The charming collection of legends, anecdotes and fables known as the Récits d'un ménestrel de Reims is one of the gems of Old French literature,comparable,in its naïveté and grace, to the prose parts of Aucassin et Nicolette. It has been published three times under different names. The latest, and the only critical edition is that by N. de Wailly, entitled Récits d'un m. mestrel de Reims au treizième siècle.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1928
References
page 895 note 1 For a description and appreciation of this text, see especially: Hist. litt, de la France, XXI, 712 ff (V. Le Clerc). N. de Wailly, Mèm. de l' Acad. des inscript., XXVII, 2 (1876), 287 ff; A. Molinier, Les sources de l'histoire de France, no. 2528; Gröber,Grundriss, II,I, 1016 ff; G. Paris,Lalitt, françau Moyen Age, 6th éd.,p. 154; Voretzsch, Einführung in das Stud, der altfr. Literatur, 3d ed., p. 456.
page 895 note 2 Société de l'Histoire de France, Paris, Renouard, 1876. The earlier editions were those of L. Paris, Chronique de Reims, Paris, 1837, and De Smet, Chronique de Flandres et des Croisades, in the Recueil des chroniques de Flandres, III, Brussels, 1856. A fragment also in Pertz, Script, rer. germ., XXVI, 523.
page 895 note 3 See the Notice, pp. xvii-xl.
page 898 note 8 Eleanor did not become duchess of Normandy till her second marriage to Henry II. This error reappears in several medieval texts, notably in the biography of the troubadour Bernart de Ventadour.
page 898 note 9 Here the word order in H differs from that of all the other MSS and seems to represent better the thought of the author, since, according to an earlier paragraph, Louis VII was the son of “Raoul le Justicier.”
page 899 note 10 This passage shows many variations in the different MSS, but none agrees exactly with H's reading, which seems to me to represent the thought better than those of the other MSS.
page 900 note 11 Here MS D has: laisserons n. b.; E: lairoient cheoir n. b.; F: lairons cheoir n. b. H's reading may well be the source of the different readings of this family of MSS.
page 902 note 12 This incident not being related by any of the other chroniclers, it is impossible to determine which reading is here correct.
page 902 note 13 Here the word order in H undoubtedly corresponds better to Old French usage. I am inclined to question the exactness of W's text.
page 904 note 14 This variant is due either to a homæoteleuton or “saut du même au même” committed by the scribe of H, or to an expansion of the original text by the archetype of the other MSS. Either explanation is possible.
page 905 note 15 This variant agrees to a certain extent with B, which has however li baron in place of li Barrois. The scribe of H may have confused li Barrois, the surname of Guillaume des Barres, with li Barrois, the name of the inhabitants of Bar-sur-Seine.
page 905 note 16 Another possible homæoteleuton on the part of the scribe of H.
page 907 note 17 The copyist of H has here simply skipped one line.
page 907 note 18 Here it seems evident that the order of H shows a finer sense of style than that of the other MSS.
page 908 note 19 Milon de Châtillon-Nanteuil, bishop of Beauvais, was in fact the son and not the brother of Gautier de Châtillon. See Recueil des hist, de Gaule et de la France, XIX, 468, note.
page 909 note 20 On this use of faites as subjunctive in function, see Tobler, Verm. Beitrige zur franz. Gram. I (2d edit.), 29.
page 910 note 21 Here AB have, after enclos, en ran (?). The archetype probably had: enclos en un an.
page 911 note 22 H's reading seems to render the text more logical than that of the other MSS.
page 911 note 23 Probably another “saut du même au même” made by the scribe of H.
page 913 note 24 Excellent variant not found in any other MS.
page 913 note 25 This passage would indicate that H is close to the archetype of ABC.
page 914 note 26 The emperor referred to is Frederic II. It is probable that the archetype of H knew nothing of Conradin. The phrase found in W must have been added by the archetype of the other MSS.
page 914 note 27 An important passage for the establishment of the text. The election referred to must be that of 1227, as both redactions later (§242) mention, in the same terms, the election of Innocent IV at the conclave of Lyon, 1243: et fu apres lui esleuz Innocent li quarz. Senebaus was, however, the name of Innocent IV (Sinibaldo Fieschi). The most probable explanation seems to be that the original of H knew which pope was elected in 1227, but erred as to his family name, while the archetype of the other MSS has added to the confusion by changing the papal name and thus making Innocent IV twice pope.
page 917 note 28 This word, which De Wailly in his glossary failed to identify, is evidently OF. esseu, essau, “écoulement d'eau, rigole, évier”; and the phrase means: “they took some roasted and boiled.”
page 917 note 29 The same lacuna, due to a “homœoteleuton,” is found in all the MSS but E.
page 918 note 30 Philip Augustus died July 14, 1223; but the feast of St. Mary Magdalene falls on July 22. Therefore, H is more nearly correct than the other MSS.
page 919 note 31 Here H is undoubtedly wrong, as Philip, eldest son of Louis VIII, born 1209, died before his father's accession in 1223.
page 919 note 32 De Wailly (Notice, p. xxxii) thinks that this change of est to fu indicates that the MSS in which it occurs were revised after the year 1263, in which Charles took the title of King of Sicily; but I doubt if this conclusion is justified.
page 920 note 33 The variante of the other MSS are here especially instructive. A only has truchié, B couchié, C touchez, DEF tourné. H is evidently the intermediary of the two families, ABC and DEF.
page 920 note 34 Pierre Mauclerc, count of Brittany, died in 1250. De Wailly, in choosing the reading of ABD, takes the relative clause as referring to his son Jean I; but this interpretation seems to me forced, and H's reading, supported by CEF, preferable.
page 920 note 35 It seems to me impóssible to draw any conclusion as to the relative age of the MSS from the substitution of the preterit for the present in this passage, as De Wailly does (Notice, p. xxxiii).
page 921 note 36 Possibly another “saut du mème au mème”; possibly the original redaction, amplified in the other MSS.
page 921 note 37 It is a question here of the voyage of St. Louis in 1249 from Cyprus to Dami-etta in Egypt Jean Sarrasin, in his letter of June 23, 1259 (see the edition by A. L. Foulet: Lettres françaises du XIII siècle, p. S), says: nous fumes sus mer vint et deus jours. Again H is more nearly correct than the other MSS.
page 922 note 38 H's reading is unique, but evidently correct The OF verb licier “barricader, fortifier de lisses” it well known.
page 923 note 39 Probably another “homœoteleuton”; but here again the variant may be due to expansion on the part of the archetype of the other MSS.
page 923 note 40 Here H is wrong. The actual amount was 160000 livres. See De W., p. lxvi.
page 927 note 41 H, as we have seen, is dated 1323. De Wailly, in his edition, gives, unfortunately, no indications as to the age of the other MSS, nor does he describe them. I have examined only two of them, those preserved in the British Museum, A (Add. 11783) and F (Add. 7103). Judging by the script, both are as late or later than H. Neither contains any chronological indications.
page 928 note 42 I have examined and counted all the variants of the fable mentioned (found only in ABCS), to determine if possible whether H shows any notable kinship with one MS of this family. The following table shows the result of this examination:
A B C
H 80 64 38
The difference is not enough, in my opinion, to prove that H and A, rather than H and B, constitute a distinct family.
page 928 note 43 These contain the concluding episode of all the other versions, the story of the contest between the Archbishop of Reims and the Abbot of St. Remi concerning the “garde” of the latter.
page 928 note 44 Notice, pp. xxx-xxxv.
page 928 note 45 I doubt whether this fact has quite the weight that De Wailly gave it.
page 928 note 46 See my previous note on this paragraph.
page 929 note 47 Moreover, the wording et dirons dou (beginning of 420), found in BCEF, is probably a reflection of the expression Or dirons dou of H, which is suppressed by A and modified by D.
page 929 note 48 As to the first point see the notes to 151, 236, 308a, 374a . As to the second, set especially 16, 24b, 26, 29b, 61a 93a, 137b, 139b 173a, 184-183, 190b, 219, 269, 384b, 399a . Especially striking is the variant in paragraph 137b, where it would seem as if the phrase et le fist chevalier, found in H and necessary to the sense, were omitted in the other MSS as the result of a “bourdon” in the archetype.
page 930 note 49 As in 1. 6a 7, 17a, 29a, 73, 100, 110, 216, 228b, 233a, 277, 287b, 367, 399b .
page 930 note 50 Since this this was written, I have found two additional MSS of the Récits, unknown to De Wailly, a discovery due largely to the courtesy and the learning of M. Ph. Lauer of the Bibliothèque Nationale. Possessing now complete rotographs of all the MSS, I announce herewith a new edition of this text as in active preparation.