Benoît de Sainte-Maure (fl. c. 1172 / 1176)

Chronicles of the Dukes of Normandy

We know only little of Benoît who wrote the Chroniques des ducs de Normandie [Chronicles of the Dukes of Normandy] which is associated with Benoît de Sainte-Maure , a cleric from the Tours region, author of a Roman de Troie.

Taking as his inspiration the summaries in Latin of Homer's Iliad, in c. 1165 Benoît wrote a "roman" of c. 30,000 verses on the Trojan War. Benoît turned the famous city of Troy into an ideal city intended to serve as a model for all the towns of Western Europe: it is presented as an exemplary city where letters and the sciences are honoured and the seductive personalities of Priam and Hector hold sway. But Troy, the city of harmony, was unable to hold out against the hostilities of the gods or the folly of man.

According to a confidence imparted by Wace, Henri II withdrew his favour from the Norman poet in order to bestow upon Benoît the task of celebrating the exploits of the Dukes of Normandy and kings of England. Benoît probably began the work in c. 1170 starting the work again from scratch. But like Wace, Benoît was unable to complete the work. The Chronique stops at the death of King Henri I Beauclerc in 1135, after 43,000 octosyllables. He takes his inspiration from the same Latin sources as Wace, adding imaginary developments. Benoît enjoys battle scene narratives which highlight the chivalrous exploits of heroes and the romantic episodes where courtly love has pride of place. The story is used as a vehicle for literary creation which portrays the Dukes of Normandy as exemplary heroes of the courtly society of the 12^th century.

Pierre Bouet
ouen - Office universitaire d'études normandes
Université de Caen

EDITIONS

- Roman de Troie : L. Constans, 6 vol., Paris, 1904-1912
- Chronique des ducs de Normandie : C. Fahlin, 2 vol., Uppsala-Wiesbaden –Genève, 1951-1954 ; (extraits traduits en français) P. Fichet, Vie de Guillaume le Conquérant, Bayeux, 1976

 STUDIES

- Van Houts, E. " The Adaptation of the Gesta Normannorum Ducum by Wace and Benoît ", Melanges W. Noomen, Groningue, 1984, p. 115-124