The ''Chanson d'Antioche'' is a ''

chanson de geste The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th cen ...

'' in 9000 lines of in stanzas called ''

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'', now known in a version composed about 1180 for a courtly French audience and embedded in a quasi-historical cycle of epic poems inspired by the events of 1097–99, the climax of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

: the conquest of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

and of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and the origins of the

Crusader state The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...

s. The ''Chanson'' was later reworked and incorporated in an extended

Crusade cycle The Crusade cycle is an Old French literary cycle of ''chansons de geste'' concerning the First Crusade and its aftermath. History The cycle contains a number of initially unrelated texts, collated into interconnected narratives by later redacto ...

, of the 14th century, which was far more fabulous and embroidered, more distinctly romance than epic. The subject is the preaching of the First Crusade, the preparations for departure, the tearful goodbyes, the arrival at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and the

siege of Antioch The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, last ...

of 1097–1098.Edgington, S. (2000). Holy Land, Holy Lance: Religious Ideas in the Chanson d’Antioche
Studies in Church History
36, 142-153. doi:10.1017/S0424208400014388 The lost original poem was said to have been composed by an eye-witness, Richard le Pèlerin, (Richard the Pilgrim), a North French or Flemish ''jongleur,'' who began it partly on the spot, during the eight-month siege of Antioch. The oldest version now known was recast by Graindor de Douai, a contemporary of

Louis VII of France Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...

. Graindor borrowed details from the chroniclers to make his work more lively and more accurate, for his object from the start was to tell the true praiseworthy tale, not cozen his listeners of their coin: :''Seignor, oïés canchon, qui moult fait à loer'' :''Par itel convenant la vos puis-je conter...'' :''Je ne vous vorrai mie mensonges raconter'' :''Ne fables, ne paroles pour vos deniers embler'' :''Ains vous dirai canchon où il n'a hamender'' :''Del barnage de Franche qui tant fait à loer!'' Such claims of truth-telling are part of the poet's epic repertory. Hyperbole and epic lists are other major features in this ''chanson'': the poet takes care to mention every knightly name that would cause a rustle of recognition among his hearers, in a tradition as old as

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, with the result that the ''Chanson d'Antioche'' was taken as history by heralds and genealogists of a later generation. In some of its details it has won the admiration of modern historians (see links). Crusade cycles had a wide medieval audience: free translations and versions of the ''Chanson d'Antioche'' appeared in

Old Occitan Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label=Occitan language, Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteen ...

, Spanish, English, Dutch, and German. The ''Chanson d'Antioche'' was forgotten, until it was printed and published in 1848 by Alexis Paulin Paris, at the height of the Romantic

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

. The most recent edition is ''The Chanson d'Antioch: An Old French Account of the French Crusade," translated by Susan Eddington and Carol Sweetenham. New York: Routledge, 2011.

References

Bibliography

*Susan B. Edgington, "Albert of Aachen and the Chansons de Geste" in ''The Crusades and their sources: essays presented to Bernard Hamilton'' ed. John France, William G. Zajac (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998) pp. 23–37. *Susan B. Edgington, Carol Sweetenham, translators, ''The Chanson d'Antioche: an Old French account of the First Crusade''. Farnham: Ashgate, 2011. . *Lewis A. M. Sumberg, "La chanson d'Antioche", Paris, Picard, 1968. *''Sont cou ore les fems que jo voi la venir''? Women in the Chanson d'Antioche. By Susan B. Edgington. In ''Gendering the Crusades''. Edgington, Susan, and Lambert, Sarah. Columbia University Press, 2002.
Siege of Antioch Project
Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies (2021).

External links

''laisses'' ccxxx – cclxv (in English) {{Authority control French poems Epic poems in French Crusade literature Chansons de geste 12th-century poems Medieval Antioch