Medieval France
. An anonymous Greco-Byzantine romance of the early 13th century, Guillaume de Palerne is preserved in a single manuscript, Arsenal 6565. It recounts in 9,664 rhyming octosyllables the adventures of its eponymous hero, who as an infant would have been murdered by his uncle, who wishes to inherit his lands, had he not been aided by a friendly werewolf, which turns out to be the enchanted son of the King of Spain. Raised ignorant of his heritage, Guillaume encounters the beautiful princess Melior, daughter of the Emperor of Rome.
After many adventures, he wins her, has his own inheritance restored, and ends the werewolf’s enchantment. Influence of the chanson de geste is evident in the style and length of the scenes of combat. An English alliterative version was made in the 14th century, and a French prose reworking by Pierre Durand appeared in the 16th.
William W.Kibler
[See also: GRECO-BYZANTINE ROMANCE; IDYLLIC ROMANCE; MARIE DE FRANCE]
Micha, Alexandre, ed. Guillaume de Palerne. Geneva: Droz, 1990]
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