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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
La Legende de Berte,“ says Léon Gautier, ”est née tardivement et les érudits n'en ont pas encore trouvé de trace réelle avant le comencement du xiiie siècle. Le plus ancien texte où on la rencontre est celui de la Chronique Saintongeaise.“ Gautier's statement remains essentially true today. This article will attempt to indicate some historical reasons that may account for the late origin of the legend, and at the same time try to establish the historical prototype after whom the epic Pépin was fashioned.
page 911 note 1 L. Gautier, Les Epopées françaises (Paris, 1878), iii, 11.
page 911 note 2 There appears to be some evidence that the legend was known by the latter half of the 12c. Cf. A. Memmer, Die Altfranzösische Bertasaga und das Volksmärchen (Halle, 1935), pp. 175, 229.
page 911 note 3 Gautier, op. cit., p. 12. He gives 13 “Variantes et modifications de la légende,” ranging from the Chronique Saintongeaise (beg. 13c), down to several versions of the 15 and 16c. These are in addition to the one represented by the Loherain cycle. A. Feist, “Zur Kritik der Bertasage,” in Ausg. u. Abh. (Marburg, 1886), lix, 3 & 4, gives the same number of variants of the legend and examines their relationship to one another. A more complete study of these poems is contained in A. Memmer, op. cit. For our purposes these versions are too similar to one another to warrant our going over the ground covered by Feist and Memmer. The main divergence is between the Loherain cycle on the one hand and these 13 (Memmer gives 20) on the other. For convenience we shall henceforth refer to this latter group as the Adenet-group, because Adenet's poem, while not the oldest, is the one that is best known.
page 911 note 4 P. Paris, Garin le Loherain (Paris, 1835), ii, 108; Giriert de Mes, Paris: MS. N, Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal, 3143, folio 101d; R. K. Bowman, The Connections of the Geste des Loherains with other French Epics and Medieval Genres (New York, 1940), pp. 45, 49; H. Green, Anseÿs de Mes (Paris, 1939), p. 18.
page 912 note 5 Adenet, Berte aus grans pies, ed. A. Scheler (Bruxelles, 1874).
page 912 note 6 Anseÿs, op. cit., lines 6352–6419; lines 14490–14501; 14538–14554.
page 912 note 7 Cf. citation from L. Gautier, beginning of this article.
page 912 note 8 See below a comparison of the life of the epic Pépin with that of the real one.
page 912 note 9 Anseÿs, chap. viii.
page 912 note 10 P. Paris, op. cit., i, 43.
page 913 note 11 H. Hahn, Jahrbücher des Fränkischen Reichs (Berlin, 1863), pp. 2, 15.
page 913 note 12 A. Fliche, Philippe I (Paris, 1912), p. 7.
page 913 note 13 Cf. n. 12.
page 913 note 14 P. Paris, op. cit., i, 44.
page 913 note 15 Hahn, op. cit., p. 9; V. Duruy, Histoire de l'Europe et de la France (Paris, 1892), i, 196, 200; E. Lavisse, Histoire de France (Paris, 1903), ii (part 1), pp. 267–278.
page 913 note 16 Cf. note 15, also Hahn, p. 65; J. C. L. Simonde de Sismondi, Histoire des Français (Paris, 1823), ii, 195; F. Guizot, Histoire de France (Paris, 1875), i, 185, 189.
page 913 note 17 Hahn, pp. 8, 9.
page 913 note 18 Guizot, op. cit., i, 191; cf. also Hahn, p. 9.
page 913 note 19 P. Paris, op. cit., i, 86–109.
page 913 note 20 Anseÿs, lines 7883, 7898, 8201 ff., 8213 ff.
page 913 note 21 Ibid., p. 27 and lines 8408–8410.
page 913 note 22 Ibid., p. 27, and lines 8834 ff.
page 914 note 23 Sismondi, op. cit., iv, 584; cf. also iv, 389 ‘... sa lâcheté encourageoit le pape à le traiter avec plus de hauteur qu'aucun autre.‘ Duruy, op. cit., i, 437.
page 914 note 24 Fliche, op. cit., p. 251; Sismondi, iv, 422.
page 914 note 25 C. Verlinden, Robert I le Frison (Antwerp, 1935), pp. 53, 59, 71, 75; Sismondi, iv, 584.
page 914 note 26 Anseÿs, p. 51 and n. 32; Bowman, op. cit., p. 121 gives 12 citations from the Loherain cycle of Pépin's venality.
page 914 note 27 G. Paris, “La légende de Pépin 'le bref” in Mélanges Julien Havel (Paris, 1895), pp. 627, 628; cf. also Bowman, pp. 36, 53.
page 914 note 28 Fliche, p. 34; Duruy, i, 438 calls him ‘roi indolent’; Lavisse, ii (part 1), 168; Sismondi, iv, 521, speaks of ‘la foiblesse du roi, son incapacité ou sa vénalité qui lui faisoit embrasser alternativement le parti de celui de ses vassaux qui le payoit à un plus haut prix, etc.‘
page 914 note 29 Anseÿs, p. 53; see also Verlinden, op. cit., pp. 59, 75, 53, 71; Lavisse, ii (part 1), 169.
page 914 note 30 Fliche, p. 34.
page 914 note 31 Sismondi, iv, 389.
page 914 note 32 Ibid., 392; Fliche, p. 34; Lavisse, ii (part 2), 172.
page 915 note 33 Hahn, pp. 9,10; Lavisse, ii (part 1), 278; Guizot, i, 191,192; Sismondi, ii, 172, 216.
page 915 note 34 Anseÿs, line 5139 ff.
page 915 note 35 Fliche, p. 50; cf. also Lavisse, ii (part 2), 172, 173, 168.
page 915 note 36 Sismondi, iv, 392, translates this letter as follows: “Depuis un certain nombre d'années, la puissance royale ayant perdu toute vigueur parmi vous, et aucune loi, aucune autorité, ne pouvant prohiber ou punirles injures, les ennemis ont commencé à combattre entre eux de toutes leurs forces, comme s'ils ne faisoient que se conformer au droit des gens, et ils rassemblent ouvertement des armes et des troupes pour se venger. Si de tels usages ont multiplié dans votre patrie les meurtres, les incendies, et tous les fléaux de la guerre, on peut s'en affliger sans doute, mais on ne sauroit s'en étonner.” Cf. also Lavisse, ii (part 2), 172, 168.
page 915 note 37 Hahn, p. 9; Duruy, i, 196, 200, 201; Guizot, i, 185, 189, 191; Lavisse, ii (Part 1), 267, 276, 274, 275.
page 915 note 38 See pp. 1, 2 above.
page 915 note 39 Adenet, op. cit., lines 185, 329, 403 ff., etc.
page 915 note 40 Hahn, p. 5; G. Paris, op. cit., p. 629.
page 915 note 41 Anseÿs, pp. 52, 53.
page 916 note 42 Fliche, pp. 41–45; Lavisse, ii (Part 2), 173.
page 916 note 43 Fliche, pp. 45, 46 ff., 51, 52, 56, 60, 61, 64, 66, 74; Lavisse, ii (Part 2), 173. It is possible that the repudiation by Robert-le-Pieux of his wife Bertha may also have had some bearing on the formation of this legend.
page 916 note 44 G. Paris, “Mainet,” in Romania, iv, 1875, 305–337.
page 916 note 45 L. Gautier, op. cit., iii, 32 n.; A. Vétault, Charlemagne, (Tours, 1877), p. 463, says ‘La légende des enfances de Charles ne paraît pas antérieure au xiie siècle.‘
page 916 note 46 Orderic Vital, éd. Leprévost (Paris, 1852), iv, 195; Lavisse, ii (Part 2), 174, 175; Fliche, pp. 83, 84. Attempts have been made by P. Paris, G. Paris, and P. Rajna to connect the events in Mainet with the youth of Charles Martel—cf. J. Bédier, Les Légendes Epiques, 3e éd. (Paris, 1929), iii, 4–7. As Bédier points out, however, these connections are of the most tenuous—ibid., iii, 18–20. The only thing definite is the names Heldri and Rainfroi, but these, he believes, came after the legend was fully formed, through the agency of monks who had access to chronicles, when two names were needed to evoke the concept of traitors —ibid., 26, 36, 29–38. With this theory the present writer agrees fully as appears below. Incidentally, Charles Martel's adversaries were in no wise related to him,—Bédier, op. cit., iii, 21, 22—whereas Mainet's opponents were his half-brothers, exactly as was the case with Louis-le-Gros and his would-be usurpers.
page 917 note 47 H. J. Green, “Fromont, a Traitor in the Chansons de Geste,” MLN, lvi (1941), 329–337.
page 917 note 48 Duruy, i, 434; Lavisse, ii (Part 2), 163; Guizot, i, 290, 296; J. Michelet, Eisloire de France (Paris, 1881), ii, 215.
page 917 note 49 E. Langlois, Table des noms propres de toute nature compris dans les chansons de geste imprimées, (Paris, 1904), s.v. Blanchefleur.
page 917 note 50 A. Rhode, “Die Beziehungen zwischen den Chansons de geste Hervis de Mes und Garin le Loherain,” in Ausg. u. Abh., (Marburg, 1881), iii, 123.
page 917 note 51 P. Paris, Garin, op. cit., i, 43; cf. also pp. 912–913 above.
page 917 note 52 See notes 26 and 27 above.
page 917 note 53 See n. 9 above.
page 917 note 54 See p. 911 above.
page 918 note 55 See opening paragraph above, and n. 2.
page 918 note 56 Memmer, op. cit., p. 55.
page 918 note 57 Feist, op. cit., pp. 21–24.
page 918 note 58 Memmer, pp. 1–113, 241.
page 918 note 59 Ibid., p. 163.
page 918 note 60 Ibid., p. 180.
page 918 note 61 Duruy, i, 456, 457; Lavisse, iii, 2, 3.
page 918 note 62 See p. 913 above.
page 919 note 63 Viz: Berta de li gran pie (cod. Gall. xiii. Marziana, Venezia), pub. by A. Musarla, Romania, iii (1874), iv (1875).
I Reali di Francia, ed. Gamba (Venezia, 1821), v, ch. 1–17;
La gran conquista de Ultra mar, Biblioteca de autores españoles, ed. Don Pasqual de Gayangos (Madrid, 1856);
Antonio de Eslava, Noches de Invierno, Bibliothèque des Romans, 1777, avril T.I.S. 141;
Henri Gaillard, Histoire de Charlemagne (Paris, 1782), iii, 369;
Der Stricker, Karl der grosse, ed. Karl Barth (Quedlinberg & Leipzig, 1857);
Heinrich von München, Chronicle, unpublished, cf. Memmer, p. 181;
Weihenstephaner Chronik (Aretin, Älteste Sage, p. 15, cf. also Mg. Ss. xiii, s. 51 ff.);
Heinrich Wolter, Chronica Bremensis: De S. Karolo et S. Willehado, ed. Heinrich Meibom, Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum (Helmstedt, 1688), ii, 19.
Cf. Memmer, pp. 180, 181.
page 919 note 64 G. Paris, Légende de Pépin, op. cit., pp. 607, n. 2, 608.
page 919 note 65 See p. 918 above.
page 919 note 66 Adenet, op. cit., lines 5–15.
page 919 note 67 J. Bodel, Saisnes, ed. F. Michel (Paris, 1839), i, 9, 25; G. Paris, Légende, pp. 619, 620, 621. It should be remembered in this connection that this use by epic poets of monastic sources is one of the keystones of Bédier's theory.