Aymeri de Narbonne is a legendary hero of
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...
''
chansons de geste'' and the
Matter of France. In the legendary material, as elaborated and expanded in various medieval texts, Aymeri is a knight in the time of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...
's wars with the
Saracen
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
s after the
Battle of Roncevaux Pass
The Battle of Roncevaux Pass ( French and English spelling, ''Roncesvalles'' in Spanish, ''Orreaga'' in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on t ...
. He is son of Hernaut and the grandson of
Garin de Monglane
Garin de Monglane is a fictional aristocrat who gives his name to the second cycle of Old French '' chansons de geste'', ''La Geste de Garin de Monglane''. His cycle tells stories of fiefless lads of noble birth who went off seeking land and adven ...
. He conquers the city of
Narbonne
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...
, marries a princess named Hermengarde or Hermenjart, and fathers seven sons (Guibert, Bernart, Guillaume, Garin, Hernaut, Beuve and Aymer
[Holmes, 260.]), the most famous being
Guillaume d'Orange, the hero of several popular ''chansons de geste''.
The "Aymeri" of the poems may be conflated with a later historic figure,
Aimery II of Narbonne Aimery II (also called Aimeric II) (died 17 July 1134) was the Viscount of Narbonne from around 1106 until his death.
He was the eldest son of Aimery I of Narbonne and Mahalt (also Mahault or Mafalda), daughter of Robert Guiscard and Sichelgaita ...
, who was the
Viscount of Narbonne The viscount of Narbonne was the secular ruler of Narbonne in the Middle Ages. Narbonne had been the capital of the Visigoth province of Septimania, until the 8th century, after which it became the Carolingian Viscounty of Narbonne. Narbonne was n ...
from around 1106 to 1134.
''Aymeri de Narbonne''
''Aymeri de Narbonne'' is the hero of an eponymic early 13th century (c.1205-1225) ''chanson de geste'' (based on earlier poems
[Hasenohr, 119.]) attributed to
Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube
Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube (i.e. Bertrand from Bar-sur-Aube) (end of the 12th century – early 13th centuryHasenohr, 170.) was an Old French poet from the Champagne region of France who wrote a number of '' chansons de geste''. He is the author of ...
(author, as well, of ''
Girart de Vienne
''Girart de Vienne'' is a late twelfth-century (c.1180Hasenohr, 547-548.) Old French ''chanson de geste'' by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube. The work tells the story of the sons of Garin de Monglane and their battles with the Emperor Charlemagne, and ...
'' which ''Aymeri de Narbonne'' follows in four of the five extant manuscripts of this poem). The poem comprises 4,708 verses grouped into 122
rhymed
laisse A laisse is a type of stanza, of varying length, found in medieval French literature, specifically medieval French epic poetry (the ''chanson de geste''), such as ''The Song of Roland''. In early works, each laisse was made up of (mono) assonanced ...
s;
[Hasenohr, 119.] the verses are all
decasyllable
Decasyllable (Italian: ''decasillabo'', French: ''décasyllabe'', Serbian: ''десетерац'', ''deseterac'') is a poetic meter of ten syllables used in poetic traditions of syllabic verse. In languages with a stress accent (accentual ...
s except for a short six syllable line at the end of each laisse (a similar use of shorter lines appears in the ''chansons de geste'' ''
Aliscans ''Aliscans'' is a ''chanson de geste'' of the late twelfth century. It recounts the story of the fictional battle of Aliscans (Alescans), a disastrous defeat of a Christian by a pagan army. The name 'Aliscans' presumably refers to the Alyscamps in A ...
'' and the ''
Chanson de Guillaume''). In ''Aymeri de Narbonne'', Charlemagne, returning home from Spain after the tragic events of ''
The Song of Roland
''The Song of Roland'' (french: La Chanson de Roland) is an 11th-century '' chanson de geste'' based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 AD, during the reign of the Carolingian king Charlemagne. It i ...
'', comes upon the city of
Narbonne
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...
and offers the city as a
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...
to whichever of his knights will conquer it, but all the knights refuse because of their despair, except for the young Aymeri. Once he becomes lord of the city, Aymeri seeks the hand of Hermengarde, daughter of Didier, sister of Boniface the king of the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...
in
Pavia
Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...
. After various adventures, including difficulties with a German lord named Savari (to whom Hermengarde had been promised previously) and attacks from the Saracens, the marriage occurs. The poem ends with a prediction about their future children, seven boys and five girls. The poem was reworked into two prose versions in the 15th century.
The
Venice 4
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...
manuscript of ''The Song of Roland'' contains, toward the end of that poem, the taking of Narbonne and Aymeri receiving it at his father's behest (laisses 285-318, https://www.rialfri.eu/rialfriWP/opere/chanson-de-roland-v-4).
The character also appears in the ''chanson de geste'' ''
Girart de Vienne
''Girart de Vienne'' is a late twelfth-century (c.1180Hasenohr, 547-548.) Old French ''chanson de geste'' by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube. The work tells the story of the sons of Garin de Monglane and their battles with the Emperor Charlemagne, and ...
'', also by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube. In that poem, he incites his four uncles to war against the Emperor.
''Narbonnais''
The hero also appears in the ''chanson de geste'' entitled ''Narbonnais'' (c.1210) by an anonymous author from the
Brie region.
[Hasenohr, 1055.] The poem comprises 8,063 decasyllable verses grouped into assonanced laisses.
The manuscripts which contain the work all place it alongside other texts (''Aymeri de Narbonne'', ''Siège de Barbastre'') and the title has lent itself to the entire cycle, called "the Narbonnais Cycle", which is itself often grouped with the "Cycle of Guilluame d'Orange"
[Hasenohr, 1055.] (itself part of the greater "
Geste of Garin de Monglane"). ''Narbonnais'' was once considered to contain two distinct parts (before the critical edition of H. Suchier in 1898), and they have received their own titles: ''Le Département des Enfanz Aymeri'' (''The Departure of the Children of Aymeri'') and ''Le Siège de Narbonne'' (''The Siege of Narbonne'').
[Hasenohr, 1055-6.] Linked to this text, there also exists a Latin prose fragment preserved at
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
.
[Hasenohr, 1056.] A prose version of ''Narbonnais'' was made in the 15th century.
The work was also adapted by the Italian
Andrea da Barberino
Andrea Mangiabotti,Geneviève Hasenohr and Michel Zink, eds. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Age''. Collection: La Pochothèque. (Paris: Fayard, 1992. ), pp. 62–63. called Andrea da Barberino ( 1370–1431''The Cambridge Histo ...
around 1410 for his prose version ''Storie Nerbonesi''.
In the part on the departure of Aymeri's children: Aymeri sends six of his sons out to seek their own fiefs, while keeping the youngest son Guibert. The sons are successful and eventually come to the court of Charlemagne in Paris. In the part on the Siege of Narbonne: taking advantage of the departure of the sons, the Saracens attack Narbonne and nail Guibert to a cross. The youngest son is saved however, and races to the court to seek help, but he learns that Charlemagne has died, leaving his son Louis emperor. The seven sons and Louis' army eventually defeat the Saracens.
''Mort Aymeri''
Aymeri de Narbonne is also the hero of a (probable 13th century) ''chanson de geste'' entitled ''Mort Aymeri (de Narbonne)'' (''The Death of Aymeri''), also called ''Les Sagittaires''. The poem comprises 4,176 decasyllable verses grouped into assonanced and rhymed laisses. In this poem: at the end of his life, Aymeri battles to retake his city (he and his knights resort to dressing as women) and then must battle the Sagittaires, pagan
centaurs, to save fourteen thousand maidens. In the end, Aymeri and two of his sons are mortally wounded and buried in Narbonne.
[Holmes, 112-3.]
Notes
References
* Geneviève Hasenohr and Michel Zink, eds. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Age''. Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
* Holmes, Jr, Urban Tigner
.T. ''A History of Old French Literature from the Origins to 1300''. New York: F.S. Crofts, 1938.
Michael A.H. Newth's English translation of ''Aymeri of Narbonne.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aymeri De Narbonne
Chansons de geste
French poems
13th-century books
Characters in epic poems