Geoffrey Gaimar
Geoffrey Gaimar (flourished 1136-37[1]) was an Anglo-Norman chronicler. Gaimar's lasting contribution to medieval literature and history was as translator from Old English to Anglo-Norman. His L'Estoire des Engleis, or "History of the English People", written between 1136-40,[2] was a chronicle in octosyllabic rhymed couplets running 6,526 lines long.[2]
Overview of his work
The L'Estoire des Engleis opens with a brief mention of King Arthur, whose actions affect the plot of the interpolated tale of Havelok the Dane. That aside, most of the first 3,500 lines are translations out of a variant text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and subsequent portions from other (Latin and French) sources that remain unidentified.[2]
Gaimar claims to have also written a version of the Brut story, a translation of the chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae into Anglo-Norman verse, which was commissioned ca. 1136 by Constance, wife of Ralph FitzGilbert, a Lincolnshire landowner.[2] Constance appears to have been implicated in the writing process.[3] Gaimar's translation, if it existed, antedated Wace's Norman Roman de Brut (ca. 1155), but no copy of Gaimar's Brut (aka L'Estoire des Bretuns) has survived, being completely superseded by the latecomer.[2][4][lower-alpha 1] Ian Short argues that Gaimar's Estoire des Bretuns was no more than a short epitome of the pre-Arthurian section of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, which might explain why Wace's later full translation of the text became more popular and ultimately superseded Gaimer's version.[5]
To be clear, Gaimar did not create two separate and distinct chronicles, and the two estoires were merely the former and latter sections of a long running history starting from the Argonauts' quest of the golden fleece to the reign of William II "Rufus" (d. 1100) that Gaimar set out to write.[2] Gaimar's scheme was greatly expanded in scope from the translation work on Geoffrey of Monmouth, the former part, that the patron requested.[2] Ironically, it was solely the latter part covering the Anglo-Saxon period that was transmitted by later copyists, as a continuation to Wace. The scribe of one such copy, in a late 13th-century manuscript (B.L. Royal 13 A xx i), dubbed the portion with the title Estoire des Engles.[2]
The so-called "lost L'Estoire des Bretuns" ("History of the Britons") was an expedient term coined by 19th-century commentators.[6]
A version of Havelok the Dane occurs at the beginning of L'Estoire des Engles, which must have originally been interpolated in-between the history of the Britons and the history of the English,[6] serving as a bridge. Unlike the Middle-English version of the legend, Gaimar's version connects Havelok to King Arthur (making Arthur responsible for destroying the Danish kingdom that Havelok was to inherit[7]).[lower-alpha 2] Add to this the mention of the sword Caliburc[8] (Excalibur), demonstrating Gaimar's knowledge of Galfridian legendary history that predated the advent of Wace's Brut.
See also
Explanatory notes
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Citations
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Bibliography
- Texts and translations
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- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. Archived from the original Vol. I Text Vol. II Translation on 2007-08-07.
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- Studies
- Bratu, Cristian, “Translatio, autorité et affirmation de soi chez Gaimar, Wace et Benoît de Sainte-Maure.” The Medieval Chronicle 8 (2013): 135-164.
- Harper-Bill, Christopher & van Houts, Elisabeth (eds.), A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World, Boydell, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84383-341-3.
- Legge, Mary D., Anglo-Norman Literature and its Background, Oxford University Press, 1963.
- Short, Ian R., "What was Gaimar's Estoire des Bretuns?", in: Cultura Neolatina 71 , 2011, pp. 143–145.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). "Gaimar, Geoffrey". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource
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- ↑ Ian Short, "Gaimar, Geffrei", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
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- ↑ Short, Ian R. "What was Gaimar's Estoire des Bretuns?", in: Cultura Neolatina 71, 2011, pp. 143-145
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Lestorie des Bretons" as spelt in: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ vv.409-422, Hardy, Martin & 1888-89 p.13
- ↑ v.46, Hardy, Martin & 1888-89 p.2
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