Huon d’Auvergne: An Edition and Translation of the Fourteenth-Century Chanson de Geste in Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett MS 78 D 8

The first complete edition of a fourteenth-century Franco-Italian chanson de geste, presented with facing page English translation.

The late medieval poem Huon d’Auvergne (＂Hugh of Alvernia＂) belongs linguistically and thematically to both Italian and French literary history. Structurally a chanson de geste, an Old French epic form, Huon was created in the northern Italian peninsula for an audience of its courts and princes.

It is the first poem to quote Dante’s Divine Comedy. However, far from merely imitating the Inferno, Huon reworks a long and varied tradition of Otherworld journeys ranging in origin from antiquity to the fourteenth century, its protagonist’s voyages echoing those of St Brendan, Virgil and Dante. Sent by King Charles Martel of France to demand tribute from Lucifer, Huon, en route to Hell, travels through multiple fantastic places, fighting serpents, rescuing a lion and being transported by griffons. He meets Prester John, converts multiple eastern cities to his Christian faith, and sees Alexander, Trojan warriors and Old Testament figures. Its lively narrative contains trial by combat, romance and attempted seduction, fights with monsters and human enemies, penance and redemption, sin and punishment.

This volume presents a complete edition of the earliest known version from 1341, with a full facing-page English translation - making this exciting text available to a wider audience. It also includes a substantial introduction, covering authorship claims, textual tradition, poetic form and reception. Detailed notes offer an explication of particular points of the text.