Joseph Bédier (28 January 1864 – 29 August 1938) was a French writer and historian of medieval France.

Biography

Bédier was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, to Adolphe Bédier, a lawyer of Breton origin, and spent his childhood in

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

. He was a professor of medieval French literature at the Université de Fribourg, Switzerland (1889–1891) and the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, Paris (c. 1893). Modern theories of the '' fabliaux'' and the '' chansons de geste'' are based on two of Bédier's studies. Bédier revived interest in several important old French texts, including '' Tristan et Iseut'' (1900), '' La chanson de Roland'' (1921), and '' Les fabliaux'' (1893). He was a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

from 1920 until his death. His ''Le roman de Tristan et Iseut'' was translated into Cornish by A. S. D. Smith, into English by Hilaire Belloc and Paul Rosenfeld, and into German by Rudolf G. Binding. In 2013, a new English translation by Edward J. Gallagher was published by Hackett Publishing Company. Bédier was also joint editor of the two-volume '' Littérature française'', one of the most valuable modern general histories of French literature. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1929 and an International Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1937. Bédier died in Le Grand-Serre, France. He was awarded the Grand-Croix de la Legion d'honneur in 1937.

Works

*''Le lai de l’ombre'' (1890) *''Le fabliau de Richeut'' (1891) *''Les fabliaux, études de littérature populaire et d’histoire littéraire du Moyen Âge'' (1893) *''De Nicolao Museto (gallice Colin Muset), francogallico carminum scriptore'' (1893) *''Le roman de Tristan et Iseut'' (1900) *''Le roman de Tristan par Thomas'' (2 vol., 1902–1905) *''Études critiques'' (1903) *''Les deux poèmes de la folie Tristan'' (1907) *''Légendes épiques, recherches sur la formation des chansons de geste'' (1908–1913) *''Les chansons de croisade'' (1909) *''Les chansons de Colin Muset'' (1912) *''Les crimes allemands d’après les témoignages allemands'' (1915) *''Comment l’Allemagne essaie de justifier ses crimes?'' (1915) *''Joseph Bédier and Paul Hazard: Histoire de la littérature francaise.'' 2 Vol. (1923/24) *''L’effort français'' (1919) *''La chanson de Roland'' (critical edition, 1920) *''La chanson de Roland'' (after the Oxford manuscript, 1922) *''Commentaires sur la chanson de Roland'' (1927)

Use of military diaries

Bédier used the war diaries () of German soldiers of different

military rank Military ranks is a system of hierarchy, hierarchical relationships within armed forces, police, Intelligence agency, intelligence agencies, paramilitary groups, and other institutions organized along military organisation , military lines, such ...

s in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

as a source for various articles dealing with what he describes as atrocities inflicted upon Belgian civilians and French soldiers. Some of these diaries had been kept for military reasons: in order to provide daily accounts of troop movements, orders, engagements, losses etc. Others were private diaries. From them Bédier connected together accounts of thirty-six incidents of what he saw as sexual and sadistic crimes by the German soldiers.Horne, John, and Alan Kramer. German "Atrocities" and Franco-German Opinion, 1914: The New Evidence of German Soldiers' Diaries. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994.

Uses

Fran Martin set chapters from ''Le roman de Tristan et Iseut'' to music as '' Le Vin herbé'' first performed in 1942, conceived as an

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

for 12 vocalists, seven strings and piano, which was staged in 1948 for the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

References

External links