Recasting Raoul De Cambrai: the Loherain Version1

Catherine M. Jones 1 Recasting Raoul de Cambrai: The Loherain Version The proliferation of genealogical cycles in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries produced a new generation of epic texts whose subject matter was partly determined by an existing narrative framework. While the early chansons de geste had generally mobilized remote historical figures and events, many "second- phase" epics derived from the epic tradition itself.2 Continuations sought to establish links with well-known heroes and stories both from within the same geste and from originally distinct poetic traditions. The Loherain cycle exemplifies this connective mode of composition: its continuations not only prolong the account of the Loherain lineage, but also broaden the geste by incorporating time- honored heroes into the Loherain genealogy.3 The final branch of the cycle offers the most prominent example of this phenomenon. The sequel to Gerbert de Mez survives in two different versions, both of which resume the Loherain-Bordelais feud shortly after the death of the treacherous 1 An earlier draft of this essay was presented as part of the Symposium on the Romance Epic during the 1988 International Congress on Medieval Studies held at Western Michigan University. 2 On the distinctions between the two generations or "phases" of epic, see Stephen G. Nichols, "The Spirit of Truth: Epic Modes in Medieval Literature," New Literary History 1 (1969-70): 365-86. See also Joseph J. Duggan, "Die zwei Epochen der Chansons de Geste," Epochenschwellen und Epochenstrukturen im Diskurs der Literatur- und Sprachhistorie, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht et al, eds. (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1985) 389-408. 3 See Russell Keith Bowman, The Connections of the Geste des Loherains with other French Epics and Mediaeval Genres (New York: Columbia University, 1940) ix-x. 4 Olifant / Vol. 14, No. 1 / Spring 1989 Fromondin.4 It is the shorter (and probably older) of the two versions that will concern us here. La Venjance Fromondin, which appears in only one manuscript (B.N. fr. 1622), relates the rather predictable result of Fromondin's demise, namely the familiar pattern of revenge and retaliation which characterizes the greater part of the Loherain cycle; the renewed warfare culminates in the murder of Gerbert de Mez.5 Like many thirteenth-century continuations, La Venjance Fromondin has received little critical attention.6 The text is perhaps best known for its appropriation of key episodes from the well- known epic Raoul de Cambrai, an adaptation that constitutes approximately ten per cent of the narrative in La Venjance Fromondin. Not surprisingly, scholarly opinion has been nearly unanimous in its disapproval of the Loherain poet's intertextual practices: the editors of Raoul de Cambrai marvel at the off-handed use of "epic debris" in the composition of a new poem, while Loherain scholars take exception to the "synthetic" introduction of 4 Anseÿs de Mes, ed. Herman J. Green (Paris: Les Presses modernes, 1939); Yon or La Venjance Fromondin, ed. Simon R. Mitchneck (New York: Publications of the Institute of French Studies, Columbia University, 1935). The two versions propose different names for the son of Gerbert de Mez. Both texts date from the thirteenth century, but most scholars believe that Anseÿs de Mes represents a more recent version. See Green 41; also Pauline Taylor's introduction to her edition of Gerbert de Mez (Namur, Louvain, Lille: Nauwelaerts, 1952) xx. In the present discussion, all references to Gerbert are based on Taylor's edition. 5 Modern scholars have not been consistent in their designation of this text. Some choose to ignore its separate identity and simply refer to it as part of Gerbert de Mez. Others call the poem Yon, after Gerbert's son. However, since this character does not play a significant role until the end of the story, it seems most reasonable to adopt the remaining alternate title: the appellation La Venjance Fromondin is based on the immediate cause of conflict as it is stated repeatedly in a series of parallel laisses (11-17). 6 Only one monograph has been devoted to the poem: Alfred Rudolf, Ueber die Vengeance Fromondin, die allein im Handschrift Ma erhaltene Fortsetzung der Chanson de Girbert de Mes, Ausgaben und Abhandlungen 31 (Marburg, 1884). Jones / Recasting Raoul de Cambrai 5 unrelated characters and events.7 La Venjance Fromondin is generally regarded as the least successful branch of the cycle: [L]a geste des lorrains se dégrade après Gerbert de Mez. Yon ou la vengeance Fromondin, épopée de synthèse qui tente de faire le lien entre le cycle de Gérin et celui de Raoul... n'est plus capable de peindre la félonie avec les nuances qui rendaient si attachantes les chansons antérieures.8 Recent studies demonstrate, however, that the "degradation" theory is inadequate to describe the development of epic poetry in the thirteenth century.9 Indeed, the fusion of epic traditions in La Venjance Fromondin clearly merits a closer analysis, one which examines the transformations inherent in what might be called the "embedded adaptation." The Loherain text engages in a "recasting" of Raoul de Cambrai: it both provides a new cast of characters and reshapes the structure of conflict. Gérard Genette has shown that such products are worthy of study by virtue of their very complexity: "[U]ne fonction nouvelle se superpose et s'enchevêtre à 7 Thus the editors of Raoul de Cambrai declare: "On conviendra que le rimeur du XIIIe siècle, auquel est dû ce récit, a tiré un assez triste parti de l'histoire de Raoul en prétendant l'enchâsser dans la geste des Lorrains où d'autres jongleurs introduisirent pareillement des débris d'un certain nombre de légendes épiques aujourd'hui perdues." P. Meyer and A. Longnon, eds., Raoul de Cambrai (1882; New York and London: Johnson Reprints, 1965) liv. (All references to Raoul de Cambrai will be drawn from this edition.) Nonetheless, the edition of Raoul does include the relevant passages from La Venjance Fromondin in an Appendix (pp. 297-320). The editor of La Venjance Fromondin is less critical: "Thus, by a mingling of events, the author, in a free but somewhat synthetic manner, weaves this portion ... of Raoul de Cambrai into the story of Yon" (Introduction xiv). 8 Jean Charles Payen, Le motif du repentir dans la littérature française médiévale, Publications Romanes et Françaises 98 (Geneva: Droz, 1967) 169. 9 See, for example, Marguerite Rossi, Huon de Bordeaux et l'évolution du genre épique au XIIIe siècle, Nouvelle Bibliothèque du Moyen Age 2 (Paris: Champion, 1975); and Bernard Guidot, Recherches sur la chanson de geste au XIIIe siècle d'après certaines œuvres du cycle de Guillaume d'Orange, 2 vols. (Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence, 1986). 6 Olifant / Vol. 14, No. 1 / Spring 1989 une structure ancienne, et la dissonance entre ces deux éléments coprésents donne sa saveur à l'ensemble."10 The present study will examine three aspects of this multi- layered process: first, the textual circumstances that favored the incorporation of Raoul de Cambrai into the Loherain cycle; second, the operations by which the poet transforms the legend of Raoul de Cambrai; and finally, the reciprocal effects of this embedded adaptation. -o-oOo-o- The idea of incorporating Raoul de Cambrai into the Loherain cycle may not have come as a great shock to medieval audiences. Indeed, the two poetic traditions had always demonstrated a certain latent affinity, a relationship that has not gone unnoticed by modern scholars.11 Some of the similarities are thematic and implicit. Both traditions portray an exceptionally brutal feud occasioned by the actions of a weak monarch.12 In Garin le Loherain, it is partly the king's decision to grant Gascony to Garin's brother Begon that initiates the feud between the Loherains and the Bordelais. Throughout much of the cycle, the king helps to perpetuate the struggle through his own greed, indecisiveness, and at times outright treachery. Similarly, in Raoul de Cambrai, conflict is generated by the king's decision to expropriate Raoul's fief and grant him (albeit half-heartedly) the lands of another lineage. 10 Gérard Genette, Palimpsestes: la littérature au second degré (Paris: Seuil, 1982) 451. 11 See, for example, P. Meyer and A. Longnon, Raoul de Cambrai, Introduction, 1xiii and 78n.; Bowman, 87; Paulin Paris, Histoire littéraire de la France 22 (Paris: Didot, 1852) 724; Alfred Adler, Rückzug in epischer Parade (Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 1963) 195 and 200n. 12 See Adler 195. Jones / Recasting Raoul de Cambrai 7 The resulting feudal wars are characterized in both stories by a protracted struggle that spans generations. William Calin has noted the tendency, in Raoul de Cambrai and Garin le Loherain, to present war as a continuity of engagements rather than as a single, decisive battle.13 This mode of representation heightens the sense of duration and evokes the futility of the struggle. The impression of duration is further emphasized by the use of numerous anticipations lamenting the great, interminable war, "la grant guère qui onques ne prist fin" (Raoul de Cambrai, v. 99). These and other formal parallels are not necessarily, as some have thought, evidence of direct imitation.14 Rather, they are prominent indicators of structural similarities between the two traditions. Problems of double allegiance also play a significant role in the conflicts of both epic tales. In the Loherain cycle, feudal bonds link certain characters from opposing camps: for example, Fromondin vows at one point to become Gerbert's vassal (Gerbert, vv. 10,801-5), but severs these ties when Gerbert offends the Bordelais lineage (vv. 13,044-81). In addition, conflicting duties arise from intermarriage between the two warring families. In Gerbert de Mez, the Loherain Hernaut marries Fromondin's sister Ludie as part of a temporary peace agreement (vv.

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