CHAP. VI. On Turpin's History of Charlemagne, and the Romances upon this Emperor and his Peers; and on Alexander. ANOTHER class of romances, which amused the grave and gay in the first part of the middle ages, were those which were connected with Charlemagne. These do not seem to have been popular in England, nor among the Anglo-Normans; but as they form an inseparable branch of the fictitious compositions of this period; as one historical romance connects his exploits with our island; as they have always received some attention from our antiquaries, and as some points about them have not yet been correctly elucidated, a few pages of this History will be occupied by their consideration. They have been usually supposed to have originated from the fabulous history which appeared on the continent as the account of the actions of Charlemagne, under the name of Turpin, archbishop of Rheims, ast he MSS. of the work usually name him;2 but of Tulpin, as he is called in the first part of one MS. at Vienna.3 That there was an archbishop of Rheims named Tilpin in the time of Charlemagne, is clear, from the This circumstance is detailed in the following note." This work was first printed in the Germ. Rer. Quat. Frankf. 1566, and again in the Vet. Script. Germ. Reuberi, Hanov. 1619. Mr. Warton thought it was compiled after the Crusades. 1 Diss. p. 20. 3 Lambecius has described this MS. in his Bib. Cæs. V. 2. p. 329-334. The first part names him Tulpin, in an account taken from his book; but it is followed by the actual work, and in that he is called Turpin, as in every other copy of it that I have seen. BOOK Pope's letter addressed to him, and from his epitaph VI. recorded by Flodoard,' whose History of Rheims LITERARY ends about 966, at which time its author lived. But the facts, that such a person, with such a name, did exist, seem to be all that is true in this once applauded work." HISTORY OF 6 It has been a matter of much debate, when the real author of this work lived, and at what time it first became known. Erroneously placed in the tenth century by one person, it has been since consigned more justly to the twelfth. A prose romance' was taken from it, which expresses its own date to have been 1200. But a little before this year, a prior of Vigeois prefixed to his transcript of it a preface, in which he says, it had been then lately brought to him out of Spain. It is, however, mentioned still earlier than this, in a MS. history of Charlemagne in the Vienna library, which was composed about 1170, in 8 Flodoard, in his History of the Church at Rheims, has inserted extracts from the Pope's epistles to Tilpin, in his 1. 2. c. 13. 16 and 17. Hincmar composed his epitaph, which states him to have been above forty years in his see. 16 Mag. Bib. Pat. p. 671. Charlemagne obtained the pall for him from Adrian. Ib. Tilpin came to this see from St. Denys. Ib. p. 670. Le Beuf remarks that the real Turpin died twenty years before Charlemagne, instead of surviving him, as the fabulous Turpin states. Hist. Acad. v. 10. p. 249. Masca in his Hist. Bearn. This date was on the apparent authority of one Julian, who pretended to have lived in 1160. But Antonio shews that all Julian's works are supposititious. Le Beuf, ib. 252. 7 The MS. of this in the British Museum says, 'Rainald de Boloinela fist en romanz translater del Latin a duze cens ans del incarnation. MS. Bib. Reg. 4. c. 11. It mentions that Rainald wished it to be written without rhyme, as if rhymed romans on the same subject were then extant. Le Beuf mentions a MS. which says, that Renauz de Boloigne sought for among the books of St. Denys, and translated it en romance, 1206. p. 363. And another MS. which declares that Michael de Harness inquired for it among the books of Reenaut, count of Boulogne, and translated it from Latin to Romanz, in 1207. Ib. 362. it Nuper ad nos ex Esperia delatos gratanter excepi.' Gaufridus Vos ap Oienhart Vascon, p. 398. which the writer refers to it; as what he had seen at CHAP. St. Denys in France." 10 VI. CHARLE An allusion to Roland and his sword, in Rodulf TURPIN'S Tortaire, would, from the time he lived, place it before HISTORYOF 1135. No direct information carries it to an earlier MAGNE. period than this, except that which connects it with pope Calixtus II. As to its genuine author, besides the mere speculations of Grypheander," and of those who would make him a Spaniard," as others think it betrays a Breton hand, 13 the most important is the specific assertion of Guy Allard, that its proper date is 9 Lambecius describes it as the 9th Codex. The preface to its third book says, 'We begin with that epistle which we found in the chronicle of the Francs at St. Denys, in France, which Tulpinus, abp. of Rheims, had transmitted to Leoprand.'-And the five following chapters are obviously taken from Turpin's book. Lamb. 2. p. 332. 10 Le Beuf has quoted the poem, in the Vatican, of Rodulfe Tortaire, who lived in our Henry the first's time. It thus mentions Rolaud and his sword Ingreditur patrium gressu properante cabiculum, Rutlandi fuit iste, viri virtute potentis Millia pagani inulta necans populi. This quotation places the story of Roland before 1135, when our Henry I. died. See Abbé le Beuf's dissertation in 10 Hist. Acad. Inscrip. p. 245. Yet it is possible that this incident may have been a part of the popular tales about Roland. 11 This writer would ascribe it to Robertus de Monte, one of the historians of the first Crusade. See his Weichb. Sax. p. 50. 12 Le Beuf, Ib. p. 253.-The prose MS. life of Charlemagne in the British Museum, Bib. Reg. 4. c. 11. begins with saying, that those who wish, may oir la verite de Espane sulunc le latin del estoire, &c. That the Spaniards had traditions about Charlemagne, we learn from Roderic Toletanus. He rejects the accounts of Charlemagne's victories in Spain, as fables; but he mentions, without discrediting it, the tale of his banishment by his father Pepin, his asylum with Galafer, the Arab king of Toledo, and the marriage of this king's daughter. Rod. Tol. 1. 4. c. 11. Gaufridus, the prior of Vosges, who wrote a little before 1200, received t from Spain. See before, note 8. 13 See M. Leyden's Complaynt of Scotland, Dissert. p. 263; and Mr. Ellis's remarks, 2 Spec. Romances, p. 287. BOOK 1092, and that it was written at Vienne, by a monk of St. Andrie.14 VI. LITERARY HISTORY OF The passage in Wace, that a minstrel preceded William's army at the battle of Hastings, singing on Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver, and the vassals who died at Charlemagne," seems to be reasonable evidence that he had this work in his mind when he composed his own, which he dates in 1155; and this is supposed to be but a more descriptive account of the analogous fact mentioned by Malmsbury, that the "Cantilena Rollandi" was so begun; " and the inference has been made that Turpin's book preceded even William's expedition. 16 But to this supposition two objections may be made; one, that ballads may have existed on Roland and Charlemagne before Turpin's book was composed; and the other, which I have ventured to suggest, that the Norman Roland may not have been the warrior and nephew of Charlemagne. On the first point it is acknowleged, in Turpin's work, that songs on one of his heroes were in existence anterior to his writing." Another chapter of 14 Hist. Dauph. 224.—It is to be regretted that this very concise author has given no reasons or evidence for his opinion. It stands as a mere ipse dixit; and yet he writes as if he had facts in his knowlege, from which he formed it. It is obviously not like Grypheander's, a mere speculation. 15 This passage, often quoted, is— Taillifer qui mult bien chantout Qi morurent en Roncevalz.-B. R. 4. c. 11. 16 Malmsbury's words are, tunc cantilena Rollandi inchoata, that the warlike example of this man might excite them to the conflict. p. 101. 17 The passage in Turpin is, De hoc canetur in cantilena usque ho diernam diem. c. 11. The question now is, of whom is this spoken? In the two printed copies, and in one MS. in the British Museum, these words are applied to Oel, a Breton chief; but Mr. Douce remarks, that VI. his work alludes to other fabulous narrations about CHAP. Charlemagne, as if then well known, tho he would not describe them.18 An ancient authority has been TURPIN'S already quoted, to prove that the minstrels had made earlier romances on some of the warriors of the age and court of Charlemagne.10 The idea of the twelve peers of France certainly did not originate from Turpin's book; 20 and one string of fiction, the conquest of England by Char in the best MSS. of Turpin, the above expressions refer to Oger, king of Denmark, of whom a long romance, written originally in rhyme, still exists. Warton, V. 1. p. xxi. new ed. The old parchment MS. Harl. 108, and the paper MS. Titus, A 19. add them to Naaman, the dux Bajoariæ. Two others omit the words on the song. But the parchment MSS. Bib. Reg. 13. D 1. and Nero, A 11. and the paper MS. (which two last are the most complete MSS. of Turpin, and the document connected with him, that I have seen,) connect the words with Ogier: so does the MS. mentioned by Le Beuf, v. 10. p. 249. I observe that the MSS. which ascribe the song to Ogier, have the passage more complete and full than the others, which either omit it or give it to Oel or Hoel, and which make no mention of Ogier in it. Hence I think the evidence at present preponderates in favor of Ogier being the person alluded to as the subject of these songs. If so, he may be derived from Ingwar, also called Igwar, the celebrated son of Ragnar Lodbrog. 18 Turpin, c. 20. Warton has pointed our attention to this. The passage mentions, that how Charlemagne killed Braimant, a great and superb king of the Saracens; acquired many lands and cities; built abbeys and churches all over the world; and went to the Holy Sepulchre, scribere nequo,' because the hand and pen would fail sooner than the history, p. 80. We know that there was an earlier account of this visit to the Holy Land. See Le Beuf, v. 10. p. 238. 19 See before, p. 204, note.21 20 The peers of France are said to be mentioned by Flodoard in his History, who lived in 960. I have not found the passage in him; but I observe that the nobility of France were anciently so called, not as peers to their king, but as peers or equals as to each other. 3 Du Cange Gloss. 137. Two of our chroniclers mention the twelve peers of France as the number by which each peer was to be judged. M. Paris, an 1226; and Knyghton, says, ad modum Francia 12 pares tum ordinavisse Scotos.' So Raimond, count of Toulouse, was ordered to undergo the 'judicum duodecim parium Galliæ.' M. Paris. We find from the Regesto Parliamenti,' that, au temps ancient n'avoit que 12 pairs en France.' These are mentioned all of the highest rank; six lay and six clerical. Du Cange, p. 143. Hence it is clear that the twelve peers of France were known in that country as a part of its constitutional nobility before Turpin Jeffry, and most probably as early, at least, as Charlemagne. HISTORY OF CHARLE- |