France late 12th century C.E. Anonymous Renaut de Montauban (Les Quatre Fils Aymon) Probably composed during the reign of Philip Augustus, known for toughness in his dealings with barons, the chanson de geste known as Renaut de Montauban encapsulates the...
Germany Composed: ca. 1180-1210 CEEarliest extant manuscript: ca. 1220 CE Anonymous Nibelungenlied Although copied down in manuscripts around 1200 on behalf of the Passau Bishop Wolfger von Erla, the Nibelungenlied evokes many historical events from the time when the...
Germany Composed ca. 1230-1250Earliest extant manuscript 1504-1516 Anonymous, Kudrun With the Middle High German ‘heroic’ epic poem Kudrun we face a curious situation. Having been composed around 1220-1250, it has survived in only one early sixteenth-century...
England 12th century CE Bevis of Hampton (Boeve de Haumtone) Bevis of Hampton may be little known today but for centuries he enjoyed immense popularity throughout Europe. Having made his first appearance in an Anglo-Norman (i.e., written in...
Italy / France Manuscript: First half of the fourteenth century CE Anonymous Geste Francor Bovo d’Antona, Karleto, Uggieri il danese, Berta ai piedi grandi, Berta e Milone, Orlandino, Macario (Beuve d’Hampton, Karleto, Ogier le danois, Berte aux grands pieds,...
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