474 MEDIAEVAL LITERATURE. 



So is the potter sitting at his work, and turning his wheel about 

 his feet, who is always set anxiously at his work, and all his 

 handiwork is by number; he will fashion the clay with his arm, 

 and will bend its strength in front of his feet ; he will apply his 

 heart to finish the glazing, and he will be wakeful to make clean 

 the furnace. All these put their trust in their hands ; and each 

 becometh wise in his own work. Without these shall no city be 

 inhabited, and men shall not sojourn nor walk up and down 

 therein. They shall not be sought for in council of the people 

 and in the assembly they shall not mount on high; they shall not 

 sit in the seat of the judge, and they shall not understand the 

 covenant of judgment : neither shall they declare instruction and 

 judgment, and Avhere parables are they shall not be found. But 

 they will maintain the fabric of the world and in the handiwork 

 of their craft is their prayer." — Ecclesiasticus xxxviii, 27-34. 



A CURIOSITY OF MEDIAEVAL FRENCH LITERATURE. 



BY 



R. D. Nauta, 

 Professor of French, University of Cape Town. 



Read July 15, 1921. 



Charlemagne, an Anglo-Norman poem of the 12th Century, etc. 

 London and Paris. Editio princeps Francisque Michel, 1836. 



Le Pelerinage de Charlemagne, Dr. E. Koschwitz, Leipzig, 1895. 



The most remarkable and at the same time the most original 

 production of the early popular French literature is the epic. In 

 the classical form of Chansons de geste, i.e., songs of deeds of 

 derring do (gesta), it accomplished more for the glory of mediaeval 

 France than any other form of literary composition. Primarily 

 the chansons de geste were composed for recitation by the jongleurs 

 or minstrels, who also sang them to a very simple melody, accom- 

 panied by the vielle. The trouvere or poet rarely sang his own 

 compositions, but, as a rule, sold them to the professional jongleur. 

 Originally these epic songs were sung by the jongleur as the 

 warriors marched to battle ; but later on they became a pastime 

 for the lords at their meals and festivals. Taking their tone from 

 the audiences, before whom they were sung in the castle halls of 

 the feudal nobility, the chansons de geste dealt almost invariably 

 with incidents of war and battle. Their central hero is 

 Charlemagne, in whose majestic figure their spirit finds its nobled 

 embodiment. He stands for the whole of the Carolingian race 

 welded into one dominant character of epic literature, as the type 

 of the imperial ruler. He is the conqueror of the Saracens and 

 the Saxons, the revered protector of the church and the clergy, 

 the supporter of justice, the terror of the great, the comfort of 

 the poor. The noblest portrait of Charlemagne is set foith in the 

 first and greatest of the chansons de geste: the "Chanson de 

 Roland," which, after a long course of development, elates in it? 



