. In the first half of the 12th century, an unidentifiable cleric composed in Latin prose an alleged eyewitness Historia Caroli Magni et Rotholandi under the assumed name of Archbishop Turpin, borrowed from the Chanson de Roland. His Pseudo-Turpin chronicle was extensively copied (more than 200 manuscripts are known) and was translated into all major languages and admitted into official hagiography and historiography. It found its way into the famous Liber sancti Jacobi and into the biography of Charlemagne; the Grandes chroniques de France of Saint-Denis, among others, relies on it.
The French translations of the Historia and their numerous manuscripts have been divided into seven groupings. Version I was written between 1195 and 1205 by Nicolas de Senlis. Version II (sometimes called the Turpin III) by a certain Johannes (before 1206) and Version III by Pierre de Beauvais (ca. 1212) are closely intertwined. The Anglo-Norman Version IV was written ca. 1216–18 by William de Briane. Version V, usually referred to as the Turpin 1, dates from 1210–20 and has been contaminated, in six of nine manuscripts, by the Johannes translation. In two manuscripts, Version V forms part of the Chronique française des rois de France. A now lost manuscript related to Paris manuscripts B.N. fr. 2137 and 17203 of Version VI (the Turpin II; before 1243) was used by Philippe Mouskés in his Chronique rimée; in five manuscripts, Version VI has been integrated into the Chronique de Baudouin d’Avesnes. Version VII is a translation in the Burgundian dialect dating from the latter part of the 13th century. There is also an Occitan version.
The Historia begins with the conquest of Spain by Charlemagne, who christianizes the country under the patronage of St. James of Compostela and, upon his return to France, founds churches in the saint’s name. There follows a new series of successful wars against King Aigolan-dus, Altumaior of Cordova and Furre of Navarre, the giant Ferracutus, and Ebrahim of Seville. Having reaffirmed his supremacy, Charlemagne undertakes a pilgrimage to St. James’s tomb in Compostela. The remainder of the chronicle recounts the Spanish campaign of Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver, and Turpin against Marsile and Baligant, known from the Chanson de Roland. After the defeat at Roncevaux, Charlemagne elevates the abbey of Saint-Denis to the rank of most important church in France and builds a basilica in honor of the Virgin Mary in Aix-la-Chapelle. Some time later, Turpin learns in a vision of Charlemagne’s death and of the intervention of St. James, who saves the emperor’s soul from a horde of black devils.
One of the reasons for the great success of the Historia is the ingenious combination of the powerful medieval legends of St. James and Charlemagne and the attempt at subsuming the former under the latter. As a work of church propaganda, the Historia promotes Saint-Denis as the center of French political and ecclesiastical power, equal, and ideally superior, to St. James’s at Compostela. But the chronicle also marks the transition, in the cultural and literary spheres, from rhymed epic and hagiography, considered unreliable, to authoritative historiography in prose and based on Latin prose. The amalgam of legendary, historic, and didactic elements that is the Pseudo-Turpin marks the demise of hagiography, the birth of historiography, and the conception of the prose romance.
Mandach, André de, ed. Chronique dite saintongeaise: texte franco-occitan inédit “Lee”: a la découverte d’une chronique gasconne du XIIIe siècle et sa poitevinisation. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1970. [Edition of Version I based on National Library of Wales 5005B (Lee MS).]
Schultz, Oscar, ed. “Der provenzalische Turpin.” Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 14 (1890):467–520. [Edition of Provençal version based on B.L. Add. 17920, fol. 6b-19b.]
Short, Ian, ed. The Anglo-Norman Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle of William de BrianeI Oxford: Blackwell, 1973. [Edition of Version IV based on B.L.Arundel 220.]
Walpole, Ronald N., ed. An Anonymous Old French Translation of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle: A Critical Edition of the Text Contained in Bibl. Nat. fr. 2137 and 17203 and Incorporated by Philippe Mouskés in his Chronique rimée. Cambridge: Medieval Academy of America, 1979. [Edition of Version VI.]
——, ed. “The Burgundian Translation of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle in Bibliothèque Nationale (French MS. 25438).” Romance Philology 2 (1948–49):178–215; 3 (1949–50): 83–116. [Edition of single manuscript of Version VII.]
——, ed. The Old French Johannes Translation of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976. [Edition of Version II based on B.N. fr. 2464.]
——, ed. Le Turpin français, dit le Turpin I. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985. [Edition of Version V based on B.N. fr. 1850.]
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