CHAPTER II.

CHANSONS DE GESTE.

European literature in 1100. Late discovery of the _chansons_. Their age and history. Their distinguishing character. Mistakes about them. Their isolation and origin. Their metrical form. Their scheme of matter. The character of Charlemagne. Other characters and characteristics. Realist quality. Volume and age of the _chansons_. Twelfth century. Thirteenth century. Fourteenth, and later. _Chansons_ in print. Language: _oc_ and _oïl_. Italian. Diffusion of the _chansons_. Their authorship and publication. Their performance. Hearing, not reading, the object. Effect on prosody. The _jongleurs_. _Jongleresses_, &c. Singularity of the _chansons_. Their charm. Peculiarity of the _geste_ system. Instances. Summary of the _geste_ of William of Orange. And first of the _Couronnement Loys_. Comments on the _Couronnement_. William of Orange. The earlier poems of the cycle. The _Charroi de Nîmes_. The _Prise d'Orange_. The story of Vivien. _Aliscans._ The end of the story. Renouart. Some other _chansons_. Final remarks on them 22