Aucassin and Nicolette: The Lovers of Provence - A MS. Song-Story of the Twelfth Century

xxii, 82 pp. Decorative cloth binding, top edge gilt. An English translation of the French classic, adapted from the modern French rendering of Alexandre Bida, with an introductory note by Edmund Clarence Stedman, a preface by Gaston Paris, and illustrations by several artists. Aucassin et Nicolette is a medieval French chantefable, or combination of prose and verse (literally, a 'sung story'), similar to a prosimetrum. It is the only known chantefable from what was once a very popular literary tradition, and it is from this work the term chantefable was coined in its concluding lines: 'No cantefable prent fin' ('Our chantefable is drawing to a close'). Stylistically, the chantefable combines elements of the chanson de geste (e.g., The Song of Roland), lyric poems, and courtly novels - literary forms already well-established by the twelfth century. The work probably dates from the early 13th century, and is known from only one surviving manuscript dating from the later part of the century. The work's authorship is unknown. It is generally considered a roman d'adventure, or a romantic work of action and adventure.