The Anglo-Norman Territories

Guy of Amiens (c. 1067)

Carmen de Hastingae proelio

Orderic Vital tells us in his Historia ecclesiastica that Guy, bishop of Amiens (1058-1075) and chaplain to Queen Mathilde, composed a poem, in the manner of Virgil and Statius, on the battle of Hastings the very day after the event. From the 12th century all trace of the poem was lost.

In 1826, in Brussels G. H. Pertz discovered a manuscript which contained the first 835 verses of a poem celebrating the expedition of the Normans to England and the battle of Hastings in elegiac distiches. For a century it was believed that part of the poem by Guy of Amiens had been discovered which was given the name "Carmen de Hastingae proelio". But for fifty or so years now the attribution and dating of this poem have been called into question. Some critics believe that this is indeed Guy's poem and would date it from the end of 1067. Others see it as a literary exercise in the manner of the "Poème à Adèle" by Baldric of Dol, which would be the work of a clerk from the first half of the 12th century (c. 1125-1140).

The poem is not only about the battle of Hastings (v. 335-565). It also evokes the anguished wait of William at Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme, the channel crossing, the disembarkation at the English coast and the final negotiations with Harold. He also recounts the aftermath of the battle, the march to London and the crowning of William of Normandy. The version of the facts presented by the Carmen conforms to the accounts presented in other Norman sources : William of Jumièges, William of Poitiers and the Bayeux Tapestry. But it supplies original information which is not given in other sources: the name of the jongleur Taillefer who provokes the English, the death of Harold bought about by a commando team of four horsemen, the siege of London and the presence of the "Sicilians and Calabrians" at the battle.

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

ÉDITIONS

- Michel F., Widonis Carmen de Hastingae Proelio, dans Chroniques anglo-normandes, Rouen, E. Frère, 1840, t. 3, p. 1-38.
- Giles I.A., Widonis carmen de Hastingae Proelio, dans Scriptores Rerum Gestarum Willelmi Conquestoris, Londres, Caxton Society, 1845 (repr. New York, Burt Franklin, 1967), p. 27-51.
- Morton C. et Muntz H., The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy bishop of Amiens. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1972 (2de édition par F. Barlow, 1999).

STUDIES

- Davis R.H.C., " The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio ", The English Historical Review, 93, avril 1978, p. 241-261.
- Brown R.A., " The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio ", Anglo-Norman Studies, 2, 1979, Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 1980, p. 1-20.
- Owen D.D.R., " The Epic and History : Chanson de Roland and Carmen de Hastingae Proelio ", Medium Aevum, 51, 1982, p. 18-35.
- Van Houts E., " Latin Poetry and the Anglo-Norman court (1066-1135) : The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio ", Journal of Medieval History, 15, 1989, p. 39-62.
- Orlandi G., " Some afterthoughts on the Carmen de Hastingae Proelio ", Media Latinitas, éd. R.I.A. Nip et alii, Turnhout, Brepols, 1996, p. 117-127.

 

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