Geffrei Gaimar (fl. c. 1135/1140)

Estoire des Engleis

Geffrei Gaimar was a cleric who lived in England at the beginning of the 12^th century. He has a sufficient command of the native language to be entrusted with the translation into Anglo-Norman of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. Between c. 1135-1138 he composed the Estoire des Engleis [History of the English] which consists of some 6,000 octosyllabic verses. Geffrei composed another work which constituted the first part of the Estoire des Engleis and was inspired by the Latin work of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Historia regum Britanniae: but this Estoire des Bretuns, who had occupied the island before the arrival of the Germanic peoples does not survive.

The Estoire des Engleis narrates the arrival of the Angles and Saxons on Breton soil towards the end of the 5^th century (495), according to the narrative of events in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. For the 11^th century, the author uses other sources, written in Latin, such as the Chronicon ex chronicis by Florent of Worcester and the Historia regum by Simon of Durham. He was the first author to write a history of the English people in French: he does not hesitate to insert dramatic episodes and legendary accounts in order to win over the reader.

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

EDITIONS

- Estoire des Engleis : A. Bell, coll. Anglo-norman Text Society, Oxford, 1960 (réed. New York, 1971) ; F. Michel, Chroniques anglo-normandes, t. 1, Rouen, 1836, p. 1-34 (extraits).

STUDIES

- Bell, A. " Gaimar as Pioneer ", Romania, 1976, p. 462-480.
- Meneghetti, M.-L. "L’Estoire des Engleis di Geoffrei Gaimar. Fra cronaca genealogica e romanzo cortese ", Medioevo Romanzo, 2, 1975, p. 232-246.