(ca. 1160–1170)
Medieval audiences were fascinated by the many accounts of the siege and fall of Troy (ca. 1250 B.C.E.) and Aeneas’s escape from the burning city after the Greeks had conquered it with the help of Ulysses’ trick, the Trojan horse. According to the ancient Roman poet Virgil (70–19 B.C.E.), and also according to many medieval authors, Aeneas subsequently founded Rome, but on his way to Italy he reached many other shores and so became the forefather of various royal houses, such as of England (see Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, late 14th century). The Old French cleric Benoît de Sainte-Maure composed one of earliest of these large epics dealing with this history, the Roman de Troie, dedicated to the English queen ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE, wife of the English king HENRY II since 1152. Benoît followed a long-standing tradition of bringing back to life this highly popular narrative material, but his Roman itself subsequently spawned a whole new generation of Latin and vernacular narratives about the history of Troy that extended far into the 15th century. He identifies himself in line 132 as Beneeit de Saint-More, and as Beneit in lines 2065, 5093, and 19,207. As was to become common practice in the entire Middle Ages, Benoît mostly relied on the pseudo-historiographical accounts of the Trojan history written by Dares Phrygius (De excidio Troiae historia, late fifth century C.E.) and Dictys Cretensis (Ephemeris belli Troiani, third century C.E.), whereas he disregarded the original epic by Homer, which was known to the Middle Ages only through the short Latin version by Baebius Italicus (before 68 C.E.). Benoît vastly expanded his chronicle sources and created an extensive new account which closely resembles a courtly romance; this in turn deeply influenced many subsequent poets interested in the “matter of Troy,” especially Herbort von Fritzlar (Das Liet von Troye, ca.1195–1200),Guido de Columnis (Historia destructionis Troiae, 1287), and Konrad von Würzburg (Trojanerkrieg, ca. 1281–87), and then also a number of chronicle authors, such as Jans of Vienna (end of the 13th century), not to mention Giovanni BOCCACCIO (IL Filostrato), Geoffrey CHAUCER (TROILUS AND CRISEYDE), and Shakespeare (Troilus and Cressida).
Benoît followed Dares and Dictys very closely, but he also added much fictional material, especially in the description of love affairs, battle scenes, weapons, and buildings. His Roman de Troie is divided into three major sections: Following a prologue (verses 1–144) and an overview of the entire text (verses 145–714), the poet first discusses the origins and history, then the causes of the Trojan War (verses 715–4936). In the second section Benoît turns to the actual Trojan War leading up to the destruction of Troy (verses 4937–26590); the third section deals with the conflicts and bickering among the victors, and their own tragic destinies, including Aeneas’s and Ulysses’ (verses 26591–30300). The romance concludes with a brief epilogue by the poet (verses 30301–30316).
In his prologue Benoît explains that he composed his Roman because he wanted to preserve the knowledge of these ancient events which were “wrongly” told by Homer, whereas he himself intended to present nothing but a factual and “true” account. Nevertheless, he adapted his historiographical material to the medieval tastes of his courtly audience, but the outcome of the Trojan War, according to Benoît, still remains the total destruction of the world of Troy. Surprisingly, his evaluation of knighthood ultimately proves to be negative as well, since even the Greek victors are not able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, and since the various love relationships mentioned here regularly result in betrayal, suffering, and tragedy (this historical perspective finds one of its best reflections in the anonymous Middle High German Moriz von Craûn [ca. 1220], which was obviously influenced by Benoît’s text). The Roman, despite its massive volume, has been preserved in more than 30 manuscripts, a fact that testifies to Benoît’s enormous popularity.
Benoît also composed, on behalf of King Henry II of England, the Chronique des ducs de Normandie, where the author is identified, albeit in a summary passage, as Beneit from Touraine. The extensive Chronique consists of 44,542 lines in octosyllabic (eight-syllable) rhymed couplets and offers a world history taking us from Creation through the time of King Henry I (1135). Benoît obviously drew much material for his vernacular chronicle from the Latin chronicles by Dudo de Saint-Quentin and Guillaume de Jumiège, but his own contribution consisted of many fictionalized dialogues and countless proverbs. The Chronique has been preserved in two manuscripts.
Bibliography
■ Beckman, Gustav Adolph. Trojaroman und Normannenchronik. Die Identität der beiden Benoît und die Chronologie ihrer Werke. Munich: Hueber, 1965.
■ Benoît de Sainte-Maure. Chronique des ducs de Normandie. Edited by Carin Fahlin. 3 vols. Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1967. Vol. 4 with notes by Sven Sandqvist: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1979.
■ Gordon, R. K., trans. The Story of Troilus as told by Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, Robert Henryson. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1978.
■ Kearns, Carol Bubon. “Influence of the Trojan Myth on National Identity as Shaped in the Frankish and British Trojan-Origin Myths and the Roman de Brut and the Roman de Troie.” Ph.D. diss., University of Florida, 2002.
■ Kelly, Douglas, ed. The Medieval “Opus”: Imitation, Rewriting and Transmission in the French Tradition: Proceedings of the Symposium Held at the Institute for Research in the Humanities, October 5–7 1995, the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, 1996.
Albrecht Classen