Chanson de geste

The chansons de geste, Old French for "songs of heroic deeds or lineages", are the epic poems that appear at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known examples date from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, nearly a hundred years before the emergence of the lyric poetry of the trouvères (troubadours) and the earliest verse romances. The French chanson gave rise to the Old Spanish tradition of the cantar de gesta.


The origin of the chanson de geste as a form is much debated. The nineteenth century medievalist Gaston Paris, recognising that they drew on an oral epic tradition, identified this with narrative songs (sometimes called cantilenae) that are occasionally mentioned by contemporary authors in other genres.

Such songs about important events were sometimes being sung very soon after the military events described. As a first example, a contemporary historian records that the names of those who fell at the very minor ambush at Roncesvalles were on everyone's lips sixty years after the event, indicating the growth of a legend quite out of proportion to the original incident—a legend that would result, long afterwards, in the various versions of the Song of Roland that are now known. As a second example, there are references to contemporary songs on the subject of the First Crusade in two historical sources on that Crusade, supporting the statement by Graindor of Brie, composer of the surviving Chanson d'Antioche, that he had drawn on the original work of the jongleur and participant Richard le Pèlerin. The Spanish Cantar de Mio Cid shows that a comparable narrative tradition existed in Spain at the same period.

Gaston Paris also believed that the early singers followed the courts of kings and military leaders, as did Norse skalds (lyric poets) and some Celtic bards, but the evidence on this is less conclusive.

Another school of thought, championed by Joseph Bédier, holds that the poems were the invention of the poets who wrote them. Bédier further suggests that some of the stories were first invented by monks, who used them to advertise pilgrimage sites by connecting them not only with saints but also by legendary heroes of folklore. Magical relics frequently appear in the tales. This point of view has fewer proponents since the development of Oral theory; it is additionally problematic because monks were specifically forbidden to dabble in the literature of the jongleurs.

References : http://en.wikipedia.org