SOURCE: “Aucassin et Nicolette and Celtic Literature,” in Zeitschrift fur Celtische Philologie, Vol. 31, 1970, pp. 224-29.

In the following essay, Goetinck investigates the possibility of Celtic influence on the composition of Aucassin et Nicolette.

The sources of inspiration of the author of the thirteenth-century chantefable, the form and content of his creation, have provided material for much discussion. The possible influence of Arab literature was proposed, assailed, and eventually discounted¹. There is another possibility which has not been so fully explored, the influence of Celtic literature through French works based on materials of Celtic provenance. There are several features in Aucassin which are reminiscent of Celtic literature and although there is no positive proof that the origin of the chantefable is to be found here, the similarities are worth examining.

The form of the chantefable, the use of both prose and verse to tell a story is not exclusive...