Publication Notice: De Epische Wereld

Publication Notice: De epische wereld Hans-Erich Keller Columbus, Ohio Evert van den Berg and Bart Besamusca, ed., De epische wereld. Middelnederlandse karelsromans in wisselend perspectief. Muiderberg: Dick Coutinho, 1992. Pp. 141. This publication aims at a wider audience, calling attention not only to the well-known Middle Dutch epics Karel end Elegast and Roelandslied but also to the lesser-known Renout van Montalbaen, Roman der Lorreinen and Sibilla. The editors have chosen an original approach in that each of the eight chapters deals with a different and important aspect of the epics surrounding the figure of Charlemagne (see below), aspects that are based on the epics in which they play a special role. De epische wereld offers in this way a quite diversified introduction to the genre of the Middle Dutch epics about Charlemagne; it concludes with questions of historicity and veracity of the poems. In view of its need for accessibility to a broader audience, the work does not contain footnotes and the quotations in Middle Dutch are accompanied by explanatory modern words. Every chapter closes with a discussion of the bibliography; in addition, the end of the publication contains a quite detailed bibliography. The work is pleasantly enriched by illustrations from manuscripts, miniatures, and woodcuts from sixteenth-century imprints. A different collaborator has written each of the eight chapters: 1) a survey of the problems surrounding the Charlemagne epics in general; 2) Charlemagne: an ideal prince or a stubborn tyrant? 3) the loyalty and honor of the lineage; 4) Ganelon and Macaire: one-time or permanent traitors? 5) the superiority of the Christian knight and why the Saracens are doomed to lose; 6) women in a world of men; 7) Elegast, Maugis and Oberon: supernatural beings in a feudal world; 8) Middle Dutch notions of the Charlemagne epics as a historical tale. Given this quite original approach for the analysis of the Middle Dutch Charlemagne epics, most of which are adaptations of medieval French poems (see Appendix), it is to be regretted that the publication is written in Dutch and therefore beyond the reach of many specialists outside of the Low Countries, an observation which is very much meant as a compliment.1 Keller / Epische Wereld • 310 NOTE 1It is understandable that in such a condensed publication errors cannot be avoided. This is not the place to discuss them in detail; two examples might therefore suffice. On pp. 12-13 one reads that in France manuscripts containing chansons de geste were edited “from ca. 1100 on”: obviously, the author of this chapter made a confusion between a date suggested for the written composition of the Song of Roland and the date of the Oxford manuscript of the same poem, dated by Charles Samaran in the thirties of the twelfth century and by Ian Short not earlier than 1170 (a much more likely date). The second observation concerns the Middle Dutch Gwidekijn van Sassen: on p. 15, the author of the chapter in question states that “an Old French source is unknown,” while in reality we have Jean Bodel’s Les Saisnes (see the recent edition by Annette Brasseur, 1989), although it is true that this work might be based on an older lost version. APPENDIX A list of Middle Dutch adaptations in verse and prose with the existing medieval French epics upon which they are based. Berte metten breden voeten Berte aux grands pieds Droefelijken strijd van Roncevale Chanson de Roland Fierabras Roman de Feirabras Garijn van Monglavie Garin de Monglane Gheraert van Viane Girart de Vienne Gwidekijn van Sassen Les Saisnes Historie vanden vier Heemkinderen Quatre Fils Aymon Hughe van Bordeus Huon de Bordeaux Lohier ende Malaert Lohier et Maller Madelgijs Maugis d’Aigremont Ogier van Denemarken Ogier le Danois Renout van Montalbaen Renaut de Montauban Roelantslied Chanson de Roland Roman der Lorreinen Les Loherains Sibilla Roman de Sebile Willem van Oringen Guillaumer d’Orange .

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