Girart de Vienne

Girart de Vienne is a late twelfth-century (c.1180[1]) Old French chanson de geste by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube. The work tells the story of the sons of Garin de Monglane and their battles with the Emperor Charlemagne, and it establishes the friendship of the epic heroes Olivier and Roland.

The poem comprises more than 6000[1] rhymed decasyllable verses [2] grouped into laisses. It was likely based on a now lost earlier poem.[1] The work was extremely popular up until the Renaissance, and was converted into a version with alexandrines (14th century) and five prose versions, including one by David Aubert (in his Chroniques et conquestes de Charlemagne), one by Raffaele Marmora, one by Jean d'Outremeuse, and one attached to the prose version of Garin de Monglane.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d Hasenohr, 547-548.
  2. ^ Holmes, 260.