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The ''Matter of France'' is a body of Mythology and Legend that springs from the Old French Medieval Literature of the '' Chansons De Geste ''. Its tales were first developed in these metrical Romance s; the stories they told lived on after the romances themselves were no longer widely read. It was contrasted by medieval French writers with the '' Matter Of Britain '', the legendary history of the British Isles ; and the '' Matter Of Rome '', which represented the medieval poets' interpretations of Greek Mythology and the History of Classical Antiquity . The three names were bestowed by the Twelfth Century French poet Jean Bodel , author of ''the Chanson de Saisnes'', a ''chanson de geste'' in which he wrote: Ne sont que iij matières à nul homme atandant, De France et de Bretaigne, et de Rome la grant. ::(There are but 3 Literary Cycles that no one should be without: the matter of France, of Britain, and of great Rome.) Central figures of the Matter of France include Charlemagne and his Paladin s, especially Roland , Hero of the '' Chanson De Roland '', and Oliver , a hero who was frequently cast in conflict with the Muslim champion Fierabras . Originally, the Matter of France contained tales of War and martial valour, being focused on the conflict between the Franks and Saracen s or Moors during the period of Charles Martel and Charlemagne. The ''Chanson de Roland'', for example, is about the Battle Of Roncesvalles during the Moorish invasion of southern France. As the Genre matured, elements of Fantasy and Magic tended to accrue to the tales. The magic Horse Bayard , for example, is a recurring figure in many of the tales, as is the Fairy king Oberon . Sorcerers and wizards appeared as Villain s; the heroes were often assisted by magical Relic s. The ''chansons de geste'' Approximately one hundred of the poems themselves survive, in Manuscript s that date from the Twelfth to the Fifteenth Century . Early on, the performers grouped the ''chansons de geste'' into three Cycle s, which revolved around three main Characters . Each cycle is named after its chief character, and moreover each cycle has a central theme, such as loyalty to a Feudal chief, or the defence of Christianity . The cycles were:
The poems contained a very small and unvaried assortment of Characters ; the repertoire of valiant hero, the brave traitor, the shifty or cowardly traitor, the Saracen giant, and so forth is one that is easily exhausted. As the genre matured, fantasy elements were introduced. Some of the characters that were devised by the ''trouvères'' in this manner include the Fairy Oberon , who made his literary debut in the ''Chanson de Huon De Bordeaux ''; and the magic Horse Bayard , who first appears in the ''Chanson de Renaud De Montauban ''. Eventually, in the last ''chansons de geste'', the element of self- Parody appears; even the august Charlemagne was not above ridicule. The Matter of France in later literature After the period of the ''chanson de geste'' was over, the tales lived on in other literature. Their most well known survival is in the Italian Epic s by Ludovico Ariosto , Torquato Tasso , and a number of lesser authors who worked the genre, whose tales of '' Orlando Furioso '' ("The Madness of Orlando") and '' Orlando Innamorato '' ("Orlando in Love") were taken directly from the ''chansons de geste''. These poems, moreover, were imitated in English by Edmund Spenser in '' The Faerie Queene ''. Tales of the Matter of France were also found in Old Norse , where the '' Karlamagnus Saga '' was written in the Thirteenth Century in Norway , and contains a synopsis of the main stories of the cycle. In Spanish Literature , the epic of El Cid recreates much of the atmosphere of the earliest ''chansons de geste''. Indeed, until the Celtic Revival in Britain and Ireland breathed new life into the Arthurian cycle in the Nineteenth Century , the Matter of France and the Matter of Britain were more or less equally renowned divisions of medieval legend. External links
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