Aiquin

Aiquin (also spelled Aquin or Acquin),[lower-alpha 1] subtitled La conqueste de la Bretaigne par le roy Charlemaigne[lower-alpha 2] ("The Conquest of Brittany by King Charlemagne"), is a medieval Old French chanson de geste (heroic narrative poem) about the rivalry between a Saracen king, Aiquin, and the Christian emperor Charlemagne. The French medievalist Joseph Bédier called it a "consolidation of history and legend in an imposing ensemble."[1] It survives in one fifteenth-century manuscript, BnF fr. 2233, now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It is usually attributed to Garin Trousseboeuf, possibly a cleric of Dol, and was probably written in the late twelfth century. It is the oldest extant French text from Brittany.[2]

The setting of the chanson almost certainly corresponds to the period 919–37 in Breton history, when the Normans (Vikings newly settled in northern France) persistently raided Brittany.[1][2] It conflates Saracens (Sarrasin) and Arabs (Arabis) with Normans (Norois), and places Aiquin's origins in the north country (Nort pais).[1] It also turns Roland, the Frankish hero of the earlier Chanson de Roland, into a native Breton.[2]

Inspired by Aiquin, the family of the famous French soldier Bertrand du Guesclin (died 1380) claimed to descend from the Saracen king.[3]

Editions
  • Jacques, F., ed. (1977). Aiquin, ou la conquête de la Bretagne par le roi Charlemagne. Aix-en-Provence: Publications du Centre Universitaire d'Etudes et de Recherches Medievales d'Aix.
  • Joüon des Langrais, Frédéric, ed. (1880). Le roman d'Aquin, ou La conqueste de la Bretaigne par le roy Charlemaigne: chanson de geste du XIIe siècle. Nantes: Société des Bibliophiles Bretons.
  • Lenoir, Nicolas, ed. (2009). Étude sur la Chanson d'Aiquin, ou La Conquête de la Bretagne par le roi Charlemagne. Nouvelle Bibliothèque du Moyen Âge. Paris: Honoré Champion.
  • Lozac'hmeur, Jean-Claude; Ovazza, Maud, eds. (1985). La Chanson d'Aiquin: texte traduit, présenté et annoté. Jean Picollec.

Sources
  • Ailes, Marianne (2012). "Review of Nicolas Lenoir, Etude sur la Chanson d'Aiquin, ou La Conquete de la Bretagne par le roi Charlemagne". Medium Aevum. 81 (2): 157–58.
  • Bédier, Joseph (1926). "La conquête de la Bretagne par le roi Charlemagne". Les légendes épiques, recherches sur la formation des chansons de geste. 2. Paris. pp. 99–142.
  • Hanak, M. J. (1971). "Torleus and Dapamorz: Two Examples of Ethnic Amalgamation in the Song of Roland". Romanische Forschungen. 83 (4): 405–22.
  • Jones, Michael, ed. (2004). Letters, Orders and Musters of Bertrand Du Guesclin (1357–1380). Woodbridge: Boydell Press.

Notes
  1. It is sometimes given the full title Roman d'Aquin ("Romance of Aiquin") or Chanson d'Aiquin ("Song of Aiquin").
  2. La Conquête de la Bretagne par le roi Charlemagne in modern French.
  1. Hanak 1971, p. 408.
  2. Ailes 2012, p. 157.
  3. Jones 2004, p. xviii, n. 19, citing Marius Canard (1929), "L'origine sarrazine de Bertrand du Guesclin", Revue Africaine (Algiers), pp. 1–26
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