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OGIER THE DANE

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 23 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OGIER THE DANE , a See also:

hero of See also:romance, who is identified with the Frankish See also:warrior Autchar (Autgarius, Auctarius, Otgarius, Oggerius) of the old chroniclers. In 771 or 772 Autchar accompanied Gerberga; widow of See also:Carloman, See also:Charlemagne's See also:brother, and her See also:children to the See also:court of See also:Desiderius, See also:king of the See also:Lombards, with whom he marched against See also:Rome. In 773 he submitted to See also:Charles at See also:Verona. He finally entered the See also:cloister of St See also:Faro at See also:Meaux, and See also:Mabillon (See also:Arta SS. ord. St Benedicti, See also:Paris, 1677) has See also:left a description of his See also:monument there, which had figures of Ogier and his friend See also:Benedict or See also:Benoit, with smaller images of See also:Roland and la belle See also:Aude and other Carolingian personages. In the See also:chronicle of the Pseudo See also:Turpin it is stated that innumerable cantilenae were current on the subject of Ogier, and his deeds were probably sung in See also:German as well as in See also:French. The Ogier of romance may be definitely associated with the See also:flight of Gerberga and her children to See also:Lombardy, but it is not -safe to assume that the other scattered references all relate to the same individual. See also:Colour is See also:lent to the theory of his Bavarian origin by the fact that he, with See also:Duke Naimes of See also:Bavaria, led the Bavarian contingent to See also:battle at Roncesvaux. In the romances of the Carolingian See also:cycle he is, on See also:account of his revolt against Charlemagne, placed in the See also:family of Doon de Mayence, being the son of Gaufrey de " Dannemarche." The Enfances Ogier of See also:Adenes le Rois, and the Chevalerie Ogier de Dannemarche of Raimbert de Paris, are doubtless based on earlier chansons. The Chevalerie is divided into twelve songs or branches. Ogier, who was the See also:hostage for his See also:father at Charlemagne's court, See also:fell into disgrace, but regained the See also:emperor's favour by his exploits in See also:Italy. One See also:Easter at the court of See also:Laon, however, his son Balduinet was slain by Charlemagne's son, See also:Chariot, with a See also:chess-See also:board (cf. the incident of Renaud and Bertholais in the Quatre Fils Aymon).

Ogier in his rage slays the See also:

queen's See also:nephew Loher, and would have slain Charlemagne himself, but for the intervention of the knights, who connivedat his flight to LLombardy.' In, his stronghold of Castelfort he resisted the imperial forces for seven years, but was at last taken prisoner by Turpin, who incarcerated him at See also:Reims, while his See also:horse Broiefort, the sharer of his exploits, was made to draw stones at Meaux. He was eventually released to fight the Saracen See also:chief Brans or Braihier, whose armies had ravaged See also:France, and who had defied Charlemagne to single combat. Ogier only consented to fight after the surrender of Chariot, but the See also:prince was saved from his barbarous vengeance by 'the intervention of St See also:Michael. The See also:giant Brans, despite his 17 ft. of stature, was overthrown, and Ogier, after marrying an See also:English princess, the daughter of Angart (or Edgard), king of See also:England, received from Charlemagne the fiefs of See also:Hainaut and See also:Brabant. A later romance in Alexandrines (Brit. See also:Mus. MS. Royal r 5 E vi.) contains marvels added from See also:Celtic romance. Six fairies visit his See also:cradle, the See also:sixth, See also:Morgan la See also:Fay; promising that he shall be her See also:lover. He has a conqueror's career in the See also:East, and after two See also:hundred years in the " See also:castle " of See also:Avalon returns to France in the days of King See also:Philip, bearing a firebrand on which his See also:life depends. This he destroys when Philip's widowed queen wishes to marry him, and he is again carried off by Morgan la Fay. The See also:prose romance printed at Paris in 1498 is a version of this later poem.

The See also:

fairy See also:element is prominent in the See also:Italian See also:legend of Uggieri ii Danese, the most famous redaction being the prose Libro dele bataglie del Danese (See also:Milan, 1498), and in the English Famous and renowned See also:history of Morvine, son to Oger the Dane, translated by J. M. (See also:London, 1612). The See also:Spanish Urgel was the hero of Lope de See also:Vega's See also:play, the Marques de See also:Mantua. Ogier occupies the third See also:branch of the Scandinavian Karlamagnus See also:saga; his fight with Brunamont (Enfances Ogier) was the subject of a Danish folk-See also:song; and as Holger Danske he became a Danish See also:national hero, who fought against the German See also:Dietrich of See also:Bern (See also:Theodoric " of Verona "), and was invested with the See also:common tradition of the king who sleeps in a See also:mountain ready to awaken at need. Whether he had originally anything to do with See also:Denmark seems doubtful. The surname le Danois has been explained as a corruption of 1'Ardennois and Dannemarche as the See also:marches of the See also:Ardennes.

End of Article: OGIER THE DANE

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