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GUILLAUME

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 694 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GUILLAUME D'See also:

ORANGE (d. 812), also known as Guillaume Fierabrace, St Guillaume de Gellone, and the See also:Marquis au See also:court nez, was the central figure of the See also:southern See also:cycle of See also:French ramauce, called by the trouveres the geste of Garin de Monglane. The cycle of Guillaume has more unity than the other See also:great cycles of See also:Charlemagne or of Doon de Mayence, the various poems which compose it forming branches of the See also:main See also:story rather than See also:independent epic poems. There exist numerous cyclic See also:MSS. in which there is an See also:attempt at presenting a continuous histoire poetique of Guillaume and his See also:family. MS. Royal 20 D xi. in the See also:British Museum contains eighteen chansons of the cycle. Guillaume, son of See also:Thierry or See also:Theodoric and of Alde, daughter of See also:Charles Martel, was See also:born in the See also:north of See also:France about the See also:middle of the 8th See also:century. He became one of the best soldiers and trusted counsellors of Charlemagne, and in 790 was made See also:count of See also:Toulouse, when Charles's son See also:Louis the Pious was put under his See also:charge. He subdued the Gascons, and defended See also:Narbonne against the infidels. In 793 Hescham, the successor of Abd-al-Rahman II., proclaimed a See also:holy See also:war against the Christians, and collected an See also:army of 1oo,000 men, See also:half of which was directed against the See also:kingdom of the See also:Asturias, while the second invaded France, penetrating as far as Narbonne. Guillaume met the invaders near the See also:river Orbieux, at Villedaigne, where he was defeated, but only after an obstinate resistance which so far exhausted the See also:Saracens that they were compelled to See also:retreat to See also:Spain. He took See also:Barcelona from the Saracens in 803, and in the next See also:year founded the monastery of Gellorfe (now See also:Saint Guilhem-le See also:Desert), of which he became a member in 8o6.

He died there in the odour of sanctity on the 28th of May 812. No less than thirteen See also:

historical personages bearing the name of See also:William (Guillaume) have been thought by various critics to have their See also:share in the formation of the See also:legend. William, count of See also:Provence, son of Soso II., again delivered southern France from a Saracen invasion by his victory at Fraxinet in 973, and ended his See also:life in a See also:cloister. William See also:Tow-See also:head (Pete d'eloupe), See also:duke of See also:Aquitaine (d. 983), showed a fidelity to Louis IV. paralleled by Guillaume d'Orange's service to Louis the Pious. The cycle of twenty or more chansons which See also:form the geste of Guillaume reposes on the traditions of the Arab invasions of the See also:south of France, from the See also:battle of See also:Poitiers (732) under Charles Martel onwards, and on the French See also:conquest of See also:Catalonia from the Saracens. In the Norse version of the Carolingian epic Guillaume appears in his proper historical environment, as a See also:chief under Charlemagne; but he plays a leading See also:part in the Couronnement Looys, describing the formal associations of Louis the Pious in the See also:empire at See also:Aix (813, the year after Guillaume's See also:death), and after the battle of Aliscans it is from the See also:emperor Louis that he seeks reinforcements. This See also:anachronism arises from the See also:fusion of the epic Guillaume with the See also:champion of Louis IV., and from the fact that he was the military and See also:civil chief of Louis the Pious, who was titular See also:king of Aquitaine under his See also:father from the See also:time when he was three years old. The inconsistencies between the real and the epic Guillaume are often See also:left See also:standing in the poems. The personages associated with Guillaume in his See also:Spanish See also:wars belong to Provence, and have names See also:common in the south. The most famous of these are Beuves de Comarchis, Ernaud de Girone, Garin d'Anseun, Aimer le chetif, so called from his See also:long captivity with the Saracens. The See also:separate existence of Almer, who refused to See also:sleep under a roof, and spent his whole life in warring against the infidel, is proved.

He was Hadhemar, count of Narbonne, who in 809 and 810 was one of the leaders sent by Louis against See also:

Tortosa. No doubt the others had historical prototypes. In the hands of the trouveres they became all See also:brothers of Guillaume, and sons of Aymeri de Narbonne,' the See also:grandson of Garin de Monglane, and his wife Ermenjart. Nevertheless when Guillaume seeks help from Louis the emperor he finds all his relations in See also:Laon, in accordance with his historic Frankish origin. ' The poem of Aymeri de Narbonne contains the See also:account of the See also:young Aymeri's brilliant See also:capture of Narbonne, which he then receives as a See also:fief from Charlemagne, of his See also:marriage with Ermenjart, See also:sister of See also:Boniface, king of the See also:Lombards, and of their See also:children. The fifth daughter, Blanchefleur, is represented as the wife of Louis the Pious. The opening of this poem furnished, though indirectly, the See also:matter of the Aymerillot of See also:Victor See also:Hugo's Legende See also:des siecles. The central fact of the geste of Guillaume is the battle of the Archamp or Aliscans, in which perished Guillaume's heroic See also:nephew, Vezian or Vivien, a second See also:Roland. At the See also:eleventh See also:hour he summoned Guillaume to his help against the overwhelming forces of the Saracens. Guillaume arrived too See also:late to help Vivien, was himself defeated, and returned alone to his wife Guibourc, leaving his knights all dead or prisoners. This event is related in a See also:Norman-French transcript of an old French chanson de geste, the Chancun de Willame—which only was brought to See also:light in 1901 at the See also:sale of the books of See also:Sir See also:Henry See also:Hope See also:Edwardes—in the See also:Covenant Vivien, a recension of an older French chanson and in Aliscans. Aliscans continues the story, telling how Guillaume obtained reinforcements from Laon, and how, with the help of the comic See also:hero, the scullion Rainouart or Rennewart, he avenged the defeat of Aliscans and his nephew's death.

Rainouart turns out to be the See also:

brother of Guillaume's wife Guibourc, who was before her marriage the Saracen princess and enchantress Orable. Two other poems are consecrated to his later exploits, La Bataille Loquifer, the See also:work of a French Sicilian poet, Jendeu de See also:Brie (fl. 1170), and Le Moniage Rainouart. The staring-point of See also:Herbert le duc of See also:Dammartin (fl. 1170) in Foucon de Candie (Candie = See also:Gandia in Spain ?) is the return of Guillaume from the battle; and the See also:Italian compilation I Nerbonesi, based on these and other chansons, seems in some cases to represent an earlier tradition than the later of the French chansons, although its author See also:Andrea di Barherino wrote towards the end of the 14th century. The minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach based his Willehalm on a French See also:original which must have differed from the versions we have. The See also:variations in the story of the defeat of Aliscans or the Archant, and the numerous inconsistencies of the narratives even when considered separately have occupied many critics. Aliscans (Aleschans, Alyscamps, Elysii See also:Campi) was, however, generally taken to represent the battle of Villedaigne, and to take its name from the famous See also:cemetery outside See also:Arles. Wolfram von Eschenbach even mentions the tombs which studded the See also:field of battle. Indications that this tradition was not unassailable were not lacking before the See also:discovery of the Chanqun de Willame,which, although preserved in a very corrupt form, represents the earliest recension we have of the story, dating at least from the beginning of the 12th century. It seems probable that the Archant was situated in Spain near Vivien's headquarters at Tortosa, and that Guillaume started from Barcelona, not from Orange, to his nephew's help. The account of the disaster was modified by successive trouveres, and the uncertainty of their methods may be judged by the fact that in the Chancun de Willame two consecutive accounts (11.

450-1326 and 1r. 1326-2420) of the fight appear to be set See also:

side by side as if they were separate episodes. Le Couronnement Looys, already mentioned, Le Charroi de See also:Nimes (12th century) in which Guillaume, who had been forgotten in the See also:distribution of fiefs, enumerates his services to the terrified Louis, and Aliscans (12th century), with the earlier Chancun, are among the finest of the French epic poems. The figure of Vivien is among the most heroic elaborated by the trouveres, and the See also:giant Rainouart has more than a See also:touch of Rabelaisian See also:humour. The chansons de geste of the cycle of Guillaume are: Enfances Garin de Monglane (15th century) and Garin de Monglane (13th century), on which is founded the See also:prose See also:romance of See also:Guerin de Monglane, printed in the 15th century by Jehan Trepperel and often later; Girars de Viane (13th century, by See also:Bertrand de Barsur-See also:Aube), ed. P. Tarbe (See also:Reims, 1850) ; Hernaut de Beaulande (fragment 14th century); Renier de Gennes, which only survives in its prose form; Aymeri de Narbonne (c. 1210) by Bertrand de See also:Bar-sur-Aube, ed. L. bemaison (See also:Soc. des anc. textes fr., See also:Paris, 2 vols., 1887) ; See also:Les Enfances Guillaume (13th century) ; Les Narbonnais, ed. H. Suchier (Soc. des anc. textes fr., 2 vols., 1898), with a Latin fragment dating from the 11th century, preserved at the See also:Hague; Le Couronnement Looys (ed. E.

See also:

Langlois, 1888), Le Charroi de Names, La Prise d'Orange, Le Covenant Vivien, Aliscans, which were edited by W. J. A. Jonckbloet in vol. i. of his Guillaume d'Orange (The Hague, 1854); a See also:critical See also:text of Aliscans (See also:Halle, 1903, vol. 1.) is edited by E. Wienbeck, W. Hartnacke and P. Rasch; Loquifer and Le Moniage Rainouart (12th century); Bovon de Commarchis (13th century), recension of the earlier See also:Siege de Barbastre, by See also:Adenes li Rois, ed. A. See also:Scheler (See also:Brussels, 1874); See also:Guibert d'Andrenas (13th century) ; La Prise de Cordres (13th century) ; La Mort Aimeri de Narbonne, ed. J. Couraye de Parc (Soc. des Anciens Textes See also:francais, Paris, 1884) ; Foulque de Candie (ed.

P. Tarbe, Reims, 1860) ; Le Moniage Guillaume (12th century); Les Enfances Vivien (ed. C. Wahlund and H. v. Feilitzen, See also:

Upsala and Paris, 1895) ; Chancun de Willame (See also:Chiswick See also:Press, 1903), described by P. See also:Meyer in Romania (xxxiii. 597-618). The ninth See also:branch of the Karlamagnus See also:Saga (ed. C. R. Unger, See also:Christiania, 186o) deals with the geste of Guillaume. I Nerbonesi is edited by J.

G. Isola (See also:

Bologna, 1877, &c.). See C. R6villout, Etude hist. el lilt. sur la vita sancti Willelmi (See also:Montpellier, 1876) ; W. J. A. Jonckbloet, Guillaume d'Orange (2 vols., 1854, The Hague) ; L. Clarus (ps. for W. See also:Volk), See also:Herzog Wilhelm von Aquitanien (See also:Munster, 1865) ; P. Paris, in Hist. lift. de la France (vol. xxii., 1852) ; L. See also:Gautier, Epopees francaises (vol. iv., 2nd ed., 1882) ; R. See also:Weeks, The newly discovered Chancun de Willame (See also:Chicago, 1904); A.

See also:

Thomas, Eludes See also:romanes (Paris, 1891), on Vivien; L. Saltet, " S. Vidian de Martres-Tolosanes " in See also:Bull. de 1itt. See also:eccles. (Toulouse, 1902); P. See also:Becker, See also:Die altfrz. Wilhelmsage u. ihre Beziehung zu Wilhelm dem Heiligen (Halle, 1896), and Der sudfranzosische Sagenkreis and See also:seine Probleme (Halle, 1898) ; A. Jeanroy, " Etudes sur le cycle de Guillaume au court nez " (in Romania, vols. 25 and 26, 1896–1897) ; H. Suchier, " Recherches sur . . . Guillaume d'Orange " (in Romania, vol. 32, 1903).

The conclusions arrived at by earlier writers are combated by See also:

Joseph Bedier in the first See also:volume, " Le Cycle de Guillaume d'Orange " (1908), of his Legendes epiques, in which he constructs a theory that the cycle of Guillaume d'Orange See also:grew up See also:round the various shrines on the See also:pilgrim route to Saint Gilles of Provence and Saint See also:James of Compostella—that the chansons de geste were, in fact, the product of 11th and 12th century trouveres, exploiting See also:local ecclesiastical traditions, and were not See also:developed from earlier poems dating back perhaps to the lifetime of Guillaume of Toulouse, the saint of Gellone.

End of Article: GUILLAUME

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