Medieval Dutch Charlemagne Romances: An Overview

Medieval Dutch Charlemagne Romances: An Overview

By Bart Besamusca

Olifant, Vol.26:2 (2011)

Introduction: In her 1993 annotated bibliography to the medieval Charlemagne tradition, Susan Farrier notes that critics outside of Belgium and the Netherlands have generally neglected the medieval Dutch Charlemagne romances in spite of their importance for the international Charlemagne tradition. Although obviously the language barrier plays a part, Low Countries’ scholarship must also be held responsible for the lack of knowledge about Middle Dutch Charlemagne literature among the international academic community. Having acknowledged their negligence, a group of Dutch chansons de geste specialists decided some time ago to publish a series of essays on Middle Dutch Charlemagne romances in Olifant. These contributions were meant to complement a number of general non-Dutch articles on the tradition which have appeared in recent years, including Evert van den Berg and Bart Be-samusca’s “Middle Dutch Charlemagne romances and the oral tradition of the chansons de geste” (1994), Hans van Dijk’s “Das Bild Karls des Groβen in den Niederlanden” (2004), and two subsequent contributions by van Dijk: “Des originaux franҫais perdus à la transmission orale” (2008) and “Die Chanson de geste im Niederländischen zwischen dem Französischen und dem Deutschen” (2010).

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