Shadowing the Other: Aristocratic Identity in the Fourteenth-century Middle English Charlemagne Romances

The Charlemagne chansons de geste were not written for the fourteenth-century aristocracy, nor especially for an English audience. Translated from the Old French with varying degrees of accuracy, they came to England as the Matter of Charlemagne romances, with the aristocracy as their intended audience. The ability of the aristocracy to read their concerns into the texts and onto the Saracens who populated them increased the romances' popularity and ensured their circulation, for a time. Singularly, the English aristocracy chose Charlemagne for a hero-king. Perhaps this came as a reaction to Edward III's, or even Edward I's, Arthurian enthusiasm. Whatever the cause, for a century the Middle English Charlemagne romances provided a forum for airing aristocratic concerns.