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The Double Genesis of Girart De Vienne

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The Double Genesis of Girart De Vienne Alison Goddard Elliott The Double Genesis of Girart de Vienne 1 HE POSSIBLY COMPOSITE nature of Girart de Vienne has been investigated first by René Louis,2 and then by the most recent editor of the poem, Wolf- Tgang G. van Emden.3 Both scholars suggest that the extant epic incorpo- rates a substantial portion of an older work. The earlier poem, depicting the rebel- lion of Girart de Vienne, was reworked by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube, who added a description of the outbreak of hostilities and a brief conclusion. The present study helps confirm this hypothesis. I address, however, not the discrepancies of plot or the relationship between the present epic and other versions of the tale such as that contained in the Karlamagnús saga, but base my conclusions upon purely internal evidence, studying the formulaic repertory and lexicon of the poem. For purposes of discussion, I accept the division of the poem into three sec- tions proposed by Louis,4 while acknowledging (and indeed finding evidence to support) van Emden's observation that drawing absolute boundaries between sec- tions is artificial since the second poet, to whom we owe the first and third sections (hereafter I and III), reworked the earlier poem to some extent. I have noted a few areas where distinctions between sections appear blurred or misleading. Part I comprises lines 1-3036 (a total of 3037 lines in van Emden's edition which con- tains both a line 1202 and 1202a); II, lines 3037-6133; III, lines 6134 to the end. Parts I and II, then, are roughly the same length, 3037 and 3097 lines respectively, while III consists of 801 lines. 1With this study should be read "Girart de Vienne devant les ordinateurs" by Wolfgang G. van Emden, forthcoming in the Mélanges René Louis. The two essays are the result of a fruitful series of conversations at the 1978 Société Rencesvals International Congress in Spain. I am very grateful to van Emden for many detailed observations concerning this paper, particularly suggestions concerning man- uscript variants. In addition, I am indebted to Glyn Burgess and John Robin Allen for their helpful comments. 2René Louis, Girart, comte de Vienne, dans les chansons de geste (Auxerre, 1947), I, 21-3. 3Wolfgang G. van Emden. ed. Girart de Vienne par Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube (Paris: S.A.T.F., 1977), p. XX; see the bibliography given there; also van Emden's study, "Girart de Vienne: problèmes de composition et de datation," Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale, 13 (1970), 281-290. 4Louis (above, n. 2), I, 21-3. 130 Elliot / Double Genesis of Girart de Vienne 131 The present study is predicated upon certain hypotheses concerning the nature and use of formulaic language in the chansons de geste. Leaving aside for the moment the question of oral genesis, I assume that the formula, whatever its relation to orality, is a discrete unit which plays an integral, functional rôle in the epic.5 Formulas are too numerous to be fortuitous; Girart de Vienne has a seman- tic-formula density of 42% (for working definitions of semantic and syntactic for- mulas, see Appendix I). Nor are formulas primarily ornaments of style or affective devices,6 but structural units of composition. The formulaic poet composes by the hemistich,7 not by the individual word. Formulas thence become a series of more or less prefabricated building blocks, molds, or models,8 from which the epic singer constitutes his work. Whether or not the Girart de Vienne which has come down to us was composed orally or in writing, its formulas are significant compo- sitional units. The vocabulary of the Old French epic is, by modern standards, restricted,9 the ways of expressing similar ideas, given the exigencies of assonance and 5Edward A. Heinemann defines a formula as a "metrical unit of syntax": ''The Motif of the Journey in the Chansons de Geste," in The Epic in Medieval Society, ed. Harald Scholler (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1977), p. 181. 6J. W. B. Zaal maintains the ornamental function of formulaic language; "A Lei Francesca" (Sainte Foy. v. 20): Étude sur les chansons de saints gallo-romaines du XIe siècle (Leiden: Brill, 1962), p. 113. I do not mean to deny, however, that formulaic repetition may have a potentially lyrical nature; that, however, is not its primary function. For a discussion of the lyric aspect of formulaic lan- guage, see Edward A. Heinemann, "Composition stylisée et technique littéraire dans la Chanson de Roland," Romania, 94 (1973). 3; Joseph J. Duggan, "Formulas in the Couronnement de Louis," Romania, 87 (1966), 344. 7The equivalent for Greek is composition by the colon (which may, like the hemistich, be cot- erminous with a single word); see Berkeley Peabody, The Winged Word: A Study of the Technique of Ancient Greek Oral Composition as Seen Principally through Hesiod's Works and Days (Albany: State University of New York, 1975), and the bibliography given there. 8But see Norman Austin for a timely warning against an uncritical utilization of the concept of the formula as "building block"; Archery at the Dark of the Moon: Poetic Problems in Homer's Odys- sey (Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California. 1974), p. 37. Austin's first chapter, "The Hom- eric Formula" (pp. 11-80), is an excellent survey of the problem of formulaic composition. Michael Nagler considers formulas "preverbal gestalts," "mental templates"; "Towards a Generative View of the Oral Formula," Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 98 (1967), 269-311; also Spontaneity and Tradition: A Study of the Oral Art of Homer (Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California, 1974). 9Timothy Hemming, ''Restrictions lexicales dans la chanson de geste," Romania, 89 (1968), 95-105. 132 Olifant / Vol. 8, No. 2 / Winter 1980 rhyme, limited. Epic poets, unlike the authors of romance trained in the Latin rhe- torical tradition, did not consider variatio a desirable stylistic embellishment.10 Inevitably, therefore, individual formulaic repertories overlap.11 Formulas were common property. Nevertheless it is unlikely that two poets will utilize identical semantic and syntactic patterns at all times.12 Personal preferences condition for- mula choice. Therefore, even in a medium as traditional as the chanson de geste, stylistic, formulaic, and lexical analysis should aid in detecting multiple author- ship. Neither the problem raised by Girart de Vienne nor my approach to it are unique in medieval epic studies.13 The composition of the Poema de mío Cid has been studied in detail by Franklin M. Waltman, who used formulaic analysis to argue for unity of authorship.14 Waltman analyzed twenty-six frequently recurring formulas and, on finding them common to all three cantars, concluded that the poem is the work of a single poet. My investigation, based on a similar premise concerning the importance of formulaic consistency, points to multiple authorship. Although Bertrand de Bar altered somewhat the older poem, he did not entirely assimilate it to his own style nor wholly eradicate identifiable traces of the inde- pendent composition. Significant differences exist between I and II in terms of formulary and lexicon. 10For the epic poet's avoidance of variatio, see Edward A. Heinemann (above, n. 6). 11Such repetitions of formulas are not necessarily literary allusions. For a discussion of the use of the formula de ses jornees ne sai que vos contasse (Couronnement de Louis v. 269), see Ramón Menéndez Pidal, "Fórmulas épicas en el Poema del Cid," Romance Philology, 7 (1954), 261-7. Countering the arguments of E. R. Curtius, Menéndez Pidal wrote, ". versos de tan immensa vul- garidad no sirven para establecer una derivación genetica" (p. 264). 12 See Albert Lord, The Singer of Tales (Cambridge: Harvard, 1960), p. 100. 13I am omitting here all consideration of "the Homeric question." For a discussion of the Chan- son de Roland, see Joseph J. Duggan, The Song of Roland: Formulaic Style and Poetic Craft, (Berke- ley; Los Angeles: University of California, 1973), 63-104, especially 102; John Robin Allen, "On the Authenticity of the Baligant Episode in the Chanson de Roland," Computers in the Humanities, ed. J. L. Mitchell (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1974), 65-72; "Stylistic Variants in the Roland," Olifant. 6 (1979), 351-363. 14"Formulaic Expression and the Unity of Authorship in the Poema de mío Cid, " Hispania, 56 (1973), 569-578; also "A Literary Analysis by Computer," Hispania, 57 (1974), 893-98; "Synonym Choice in the Cantar de Mío Cid, " Hispania, 57 (1974), 452-61 and "Tagmemic Analysis and Unity of Authorship in the Cantar de Mío Cid," Revista de Estudios Hispanicos (Alabama), 9 (1975), 451-69. Elliott / Double Genesis of Girart de Vienne 133 I Formula Statistics The statistics15 given below are for semantic or "straight" formulas only, although in the essay I consider the rôle of syntactic formulas as well. My working definition of the formula16 is essentially that utilized by Joseph J. Duggan in The Song of Roland so that my results may be compared with his.17 I differ in only one minor respect. In "The Quest for the 'Formula': A Comparative Reappraisal,"18 John Miletich criticizes Duggan for counting as semantic formulas phrases identi- cal except for the assonance word. In point of fact, Duggan limited such seeming "exceptions" to words which were synonyms or near synonyms. Furthermore, this group, as Duggan notes, did not constitute a statistically significant number; never- theless, I have not considered such hemistichs formulas unless they involved two morphological variants of the same word (e.g., une feste joïe, v. 110; une feste joiant, v. 180). The Poem as a Whole: Semantic Formulas total number of hemistichs 13,67819 total number of formulaic hemistichs 5,749 formula density 42% Part I alone (vv.
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