Roman d'Alexandre

For the thirteenth-century prose romance, see Roman d'Alexandre en prose.
Roman d'Alexandre
Romance of Alexander
Alexander the Great in a diving bell: a scene from the text.
Original titleOld French: Li romans d'Alixandre
Ascribed toAlexander of Paris
Date12th century
GenreRomance
Length16,000 verses
SubjectAlexander the Great

The Roman d'Alexandre, from the Old French Li romans d'Alixandre (English: "Romance of Alexander"), is a 16,000-verse[1] twelfth-century[2] Old French Alexander romance detailing various episodes in the life of Alexander the Great. It is considered by many scholars as the most important of the Medieval Alexander romances.[2] Many of the manuscripts of the work are illustrated.[2] The poem is generally divided into four branches (see below).[1] The final form of the poem is largely credited to Alexander of Paris who probably placed the branches in the order we find them, reworked the first branch into alexandrines, incorporated the text of Pierre de Saint-Cloud, and added verses to join each branch.[1]

The four branches:

  1. The first branch (derived from the so-called Decasyllabic Alexander: Alexander's childhood leading to the siege of Tyre[2]) derives from an anonymous Poitevin author who reworked, into decasyllables, a late eleventh or early twelfth century Franco-Provençal octosyllable version of the Alexander story by Albéric de Briançon (itself based in part on a ninth-century Latin epitome of the Julius Valerius' translation of the Alexander story).[1]
  2. The second branch (derived from the Fuerre de Gadres: telling of the taking of Tyre, the entry into Jerusalem and the defeat of Darius[2]) was composed by a certain Eustache.[1]
  3. The third and longest branch (derived from Alixandre en Orient: includes Alexander's adventures in India and his underwater adventure[2]) derives from Lambert de Tort of Châteaudun who used 12-syllable verses (which are called "alexandrines" because of their appearance in this work).[1]
  4. The fourth branch (derived in part from the so-called Mort Alixandre: his death and burial[2]) is attributed in part to Alexander of Paris (also known as Alexandre de Paris) and in part to Pierre de Saint-Cloud.[1]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Hasenohr, 1306.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g The Medieval Alexander Project at the University of Rochester estimates it was written sometime after 1177.