The "Roman de Troie"

Description

Benoît de Sainte-Maure's "Roman de Troie", dating to around 1165, is, along with the "Roman de Thèbes" and the "Roman d'Eneas", one of the three "romances of antiquity" ("romans d'antiquité"). These romances launched the plots, themes and structures of the genre, then blossoming in the hands of authors such as Chrétien de Troyes. As an account of the Trojan War, Benoît's work is of necessity a poem about war and its causes, how it was fought and what its consequences were for the combatants. But the author's choice of the octosyllabic rhyming couplet, his fondness for description, his ability to recount the intensity of personal struggles, and above all his fascination with the trials and tribulations of Love, which affect some of the work's most prominent warriors (among them Paris and his love for Helen, and Troilus and his love for Briseida), all combine to fashion this romance - in which events from long ago are presented as a reflection of the poet's own feudal and courtly worlds. This translation, the first into English, aims to bring the poem and the author to a wider audience. It is accompanied by an introduction and notes. Preface and Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 A Note on the Translation 33 Outline of the "Roman de Troie" 35 THE "ROMAN DE TROIE" Prologue 43 Overview of the Plot 45 Part One: Causes and Effects 53 Part Two: The Trojan War 127 Part Three: Settling Scores and Surviving 367 Appendix I: Notes on Some Common Words in the "Roman de Troie" 415 Appendix II: Manuscripts of the "Roman de Troie" 432 Bibliography 435 Indexes of Personal and Geographical Names 453 Index of Personal Names 454 Index of Geographical Names 469