Aigar e Maurin

Aigar e Maurin is an anonymous Old Occitan epic poem of the twelfth century. The whole work does not survive, but 1,437 lines are known from two damaged fragments.[1] The lines are decasyllabic and are divided into 44 rhyming laisses.[2][3] The fragments—two single folios—were later reused and bound in a legal manuscript of the sixteenth century.[2][3]

The date and place of composition of Aigar e Maurin are uncertain. It is usually thought to come from Poitou.[1][3] It is usually dated to the second half of the twelfth century,[2][3] but it may be from earlier than 1159.[1] The troubadour Giraut de Cabreira knew a version of the story before 1159 or perhaps 1165. If, however, the conflict between Aigar and Maurin is based on that between Henry II of England and Louis VII of France, then the poem must have been composed after Henry II's accession in 1154.[1] Hans-Erich Keller thought it was based on the revolt of the Young King in 1173.[2]

Linguistically, Aigar is similar to Girart de Roussillon, but it is not clear in which direction the influence went.[1] It contains signs of Anglo-Norman influence, and may even be a reworking of an originally Anglo-Norman poem. Olivier Naudeau went so far as to call its language a composite of Occitan and Norman French.[2] Linda Paterson describes its tone as "primitive".[1] In writing an essentially military tale,[1] the poet displays some familiarity with military camps.[2]

Its subject matter is unique among Occitan works, since it recounts the Capetian–Plantagenet rivalry from an Anglo-Norman perspective.[1][3] Maurin, a Frenchman, is the vassal of the English king, Aigar.[2]