Roman de Rou

Roman de Rou( "RomanceofRollo") is a verse chronicle byWaceinNormancovering the history of theDukes of Normandyfrom the time ofRollo of Normandyto thebattle of Tinchebrayin 1106. It is anational epicofNormandy.

Wace presents hisRoman de RoutoHenry IIin this illustration from 1824

As quoted on this monument inSaint Helier,Wace informs the reader of theRoman de Routhat he was born inJersey

Following the success of hisRoman de Brut,which recounted the history of the Britons, Wace was apparently commissioned byHenry II of Englandto write a similar account of the origins of theNormansand theirconquest of England.Wace abandons his tale before bringing it up to date, telling the reader in the final lines of Part III that the king had entrusted the same task to aMaistre Beneeit(believed to beBenoît de Sainte-More).

The work was started in the year 1160, and Wace seems to have performed his last revisions in the mid-1170s.

Composition

The work consists of:

• a 315-line account of the Dukes in reverse chronological order known as theChronique Ascendante.This is believed by some scholars not to be an original part of theRou,but a separate work by Wace.
• a 4,425-line section inalexandrinesknown as Part II
• an 11,440-line section inoctosyllablesknown as Part III

A 750-line section known asLe Romaunz de Rou et des dus de Normendieappended in some editions appears to be an early draft, abandoned and later reworked into the final redaction.

Sources

Wace used as sources for his history of the Dukes of Normandy:

• Gesta Normannorum Ducum
• De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducumbyDudo of Saint-Quentin
• Gesta GuillelmibyWilliam of Poitiers
• Gesta regum AnglorumbyWilliam of Malmesbury
• Brevis relatio de Guillelmo nobilissimo comtie Normannorum
• oral tradition,including information from his father, and his own eyewitness

See also

• Anglo-Norman literature

References

• Burgess, Glyn S.(2002).The Roman de Rou.Jersey.ISBN0-901897-34-5.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• Andressen, Hugo, ed. (1879).Maistre Wace's Roman de Rou et des ducs de Normandie(in Old English and German). Heilbronn: Verlag Gebr. Henninger – via Internet Archcive.
• Master Wace his Chronicle of the Norman Conquest from Roman de Rou.Translated byTaylor, Edgar.London: William Pickering. 1837 – via 1066.co.nz.