University of Groningen Gesta Normannorum Ducum. Een studie over de handschriften, de tekst het geschiedwerk en het genre Houts, Elisabeth IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 1982 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Houts, E. (1982). Gesta Normannorum Ducum. Een studie over de handschriften, de tekst het geschiedwerk en het genre. s.n. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne- amendment. Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 30-09-2021 Summary 'Fhe rein ^l-.iê.r nf fhiq qtr.l" is rn ecj-alrrish which of the Lransmitted versions of the Gestd Noy,mannoTumDucwn (GND) is the original one and how and when the subsequent redacljons have origtnated from it. It is irl-andad eq e nrolirjn4-y sl-ltflv for a new text editiOn. ïn ll-ê Fircf eh^.iêr ê qrrr\/ê\/ iq oirzen of the hisforv and cufrenL state of research concerning Lhre GND. The nexL three chapLers treat the development of Lhe GND from, res- noc1-irrelrrpLeLtvLtl : codinnl^-j-^rLLulegruat, a l^isfo-icalr-rJLv-reqt yerlunoinL Of vieW. The followino eonclrrgigng have been Ieached. Redaction C is the oldestversion of the GND, writ:t:en by William of Jumjèges about l070/71; his auLograph has not survived. WiLhin the C- redaction manuscripL C4 (ca. 1100, Normandy, possibly Lyre) is nearesL to the oriqinal text. The nev/ edition of the GllD therefore has to be based on tÁis manuscripL. My study has conlirmed tne hypothesis of, Professor R.H.C. Davis, who in 1980 concluded, mainly on historical .,ra"nic fh:f fÈ^ .-rerlàction renreqenl < fl-ê nrinin:l fêvf ^. Lhe CND. It consists oI a dedicatory letteÍ from William o-[ Jumièges to William fl-ê í-nndrrêr.r cerron hnnl,e whinh Ànàrf from the fircl êaeh Contain the hisfory of a Norman duke from Rollo 1-o Wilfiam the Conqueror, and the l-ong epilogue. Redactions D, E and oB, the latter the direcL. precursor of A and B, independently derive from C. Redaction oB, which has not survived in ^n\/ m^nrrqerinl-. nrrqí- have COnsiSted OÍ the darri.Àl-.rv lêfi-êr Seven books, and Lhe short epilogue; Book Vf c. ii, contained an interpolation concerning NichoIas, abbot oÍ Saint-Ouen àt Rouen. Mainly because of this addÍtion I attribute the hypothetÍcal redaction oB tto an anon).rynous monk of Saint-Ouen. The redaction can be dated to the period 1096-1100. RedacLion A, consisting of the complete work oÍ Dudo of Saint-Quentin followed by Books V, VI, VII and the short epilogue of the G//D, derives from 03. lt originated in Normandy in the period after 1096-iiOO. Redaction B contalns the text of oBf to which have been added four anecdotes in Books V and Vl and, at the end of the GND, Lhe small text De abí Lu Wíllelmí (D)W). The anecdoLes date .[rom 11th-century Normandy, whereas D)W was \dritten by an anonltnous author from the entourage of WiIIiam Rufus, probably ceraldus Cancelfarjus, in the period 1096/98- 1100. The B-redaction was composed at the begj-nning of the l2th century, cnmourhoro in fha Àn^l^-N^rmàn Fmniva Redaction D consists of the dedicatory letter and seven books, of which the last Iacks the ending. AfI manuscripts of Lhis redaction more or less agree Ín omitting t-he text from Book VII c. xvi (xxxvii) onwards. Recàilqe o'qome oeooranhical niorcadindq T..niê.flrrê fh^i- n was writlen in England, and not ln Normandy or France. The redaction can be dated to the period from 1106 to II2O-1130, when its oldest manuscript, D1, was written. AbouL 1113 Orderic Vitalis, monk of Saint-Évroult, wrote his version af t,'na CI\ID rêda^fi^n r -^h-i-Èin^ as rhê Àê^i^:f^rrz 1êtfêr vrl L, uutrsrsLfttg ui Lt.- -,--,*-- , Seven 'Fha h^^Lc 5nn fh^ r^h^ ^nilnnrre urhnlê fext has been stifisticallv re_ wriLLen and many interpolations have been added, especial.Iy in Book VfI. About 1139 redaction E was used by Robert of Torjgni, monk of the monastery of Bec, to write the F-redaction. This version consists of a sl iohflv alferêíl dedie:j-nrrr lÊj-l-êr cinhr- 166](s and the so-called Addi LA- menLa. Wiliiam of Jumièges'epilogue, at- the end of Book VIf, was omitted hv Ról-1êrf hecerrqe ^f his addÍtion 6f 3n €,inhfh hnnk nn Hênr\/ I. Afteï 1151 Robert even considered having Lhe GND continued by a history of caaffvott ^r Àni^rr àc ^,rLê ^f N^rhán^\/ Thê qê.^n.l nrrrn^qê of thic stltdv is f.o examine fhê nrohiem of the gesta, the genre to which in the modern llterature on medieval histo- riography, Lhe CND are usually reckoned. The fifth and fast chapter l^ronine h.' -rrf I inina l--hg modern theories Cón.êrninn l-l^p modiorrSl I iiê-Fr\, :nri hict-nrinnranhic:l nenraq within the ÍieId of thê í-hênr\/ of fiteral-ure Lhere is a tendency to identify genres by studying the reception of a text, in other words the lnteraclion between author anrl nrrhl i c ór f hê ^r-her hand modern hist^ri rnê c,,ónÁê and Me.L- rzilla fr\7 f^ nlrcci Frr moÁiorrr'l hicfnrinnranhu!a/rr) duuuraaaarà u rrrginn f^LU eon-^, temporary medievaf criteria based on the medieval titfes of the works. TheV lêaVe otrf of àcc^,,n1 ha-.'a.'a- +hó ^,j^jr fhó:^ó:h^ fhe value of these titrles. The second section pays atLention to the so-caIIed gesta-hístories, and establishes that the term gesLa has not been studied properly. It ànnêàrq. hól-h frnm nr;6lg1n Iitefatufe and from t.hê nrêsênt ctlt^" fh:f in the Middle Aoes fitles were annliêd mosf inconsisfent'lv- ThiS leads to the concfusion |.ha1cgesLa \^/as not used to indicate a genre. Following Grundmann most historians today understand by gesta: historical narra- tives about the deeds of a series oÍ persons holdinq the same office. Some historians, however, give other definitions, They also count among gesta hLstorical nar.raLives about one peïson from such a series, about q^t nno indirzirlrral nne 13f i6n Or eVen 6ng 16cinn Ranl-i or an'l COn-[ine their deÍinition to a less extensive category, namely gesLa epíscopoT,um aod gesta abbatun- The gesla of seculaï princes have not so far been studied as a separate category, but only in the context oÍ historical narraLives about a single nation, genealogies, and biographies or 0tLae. Modern literature as wefl as Sotrs recent study offers four criteria Lo be saLified by gesta: 1. emphasis laid on the office rather than on fho hearcr- 2 fhe close bond of the auth^- '.'ifh fhê rê-i^-'-here the cj-ór'z h^q hcen urrij-j-ên- 3 looifimiqefión ^q nrrrnóqê fn urrifê SuCh a ronenr hieinri.^l nárráfttro. 4- the earaetel of these textS. In the third sect.ion the development of the GND is studied in the Iight of these criter.ia. Whereas the text written by William of Jumiè- ceq docq ánqwêr fhêqê arife-ia. fhc qrrhcenrrênf yêdÀ.i-i^n< dn 99 faf feSS. Tt à-^êàrc thát fhê FirdF nhicó ^f +hó a17,D is mainlw eoneerned With the succession from father to son as duke of Normandy. The relation r^/ith the duchy of Normandy is thus cfoser although attention is paid to Ennl icl- :FFairc a F^e1- whieh hardlv qrrrnlises beCaUSe the text WaS víritten shortly after 1066. The first redaction of the GND also throws 'l cnne Iinhi- nn fhê nnnasferv oc ,lltmièoes- Alfholtoh fhe eoif iniSati6n Of the Norman Conquest is one of WiIl-iam of Jumièges'purposes in writing a hieforv of the Nornan rl'rkes. hc iq rhorre all interested in h.is own country and the llne of succession there. He therefore holds out to his readers the prospect of a continuation of the GND Lo deal wíth Robert Curthose, as duke of Normandy, and not with Wiftiam the Conqueror, as kino of fhe F,nolish- This vêrv intêntión to conljnue Lhe C,4/Dshows the I onenneqq I of thc wor:k. Among the different versions of the GND each redaction does answer one or more criteria, none however aII four. Structural-Ly the work consists of books, each devoted to the history of one duke, and this basjc structure has been respected by the interpolators and continuators.