Matter of Rome
Literary cycle of Greek and Roman mythology, together with episodes from the history of classical antiquity, focusing on military heroes like Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar.
- Matter of Rome25 related topics
Matter of France
Body of literature and legendary material associated with the history of France, in particular involving Charlemagne and his associates.
Body of literature and legendary material associated with the history of France, in particular involving Charlemagne and his associates.
Together with the Matter of Britain, which concerned King Arthur, and the Matter of Rome, comprising material derived from and inspired by classical mythology, it was one of the great European literary cycles that figured repeatedly in medieval literature.
Dares Phrygius
Trojan priest of Hephaestus.
Trojan priest of Hephaestus.
Together with the similar work of Dictys Cretensis (with which it is generally printed), the De excidio forms the chief source for the numerous medieval accounts of the Trojan legend, the so-called Matter of Troy.
Chivalric romance
Type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe.
Type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe.
Overwhelmingly, these were linked in some way, perhaps only in an opening frame story, with three thematic cycles of tales: these were assembled in imagination at a late date as the "Matter of Rome" (actually centered on the life and deeds of Alexander the Great conflated with the Trojan War), the "Matter of France" (Charlemagne and Roland, his principal paladin) and the "Matter of Britain" (the lives and deeds of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, within which was incorporated the quest for the Holy Grail); medieval authors explicitly described these as comprising all romances.
Chanson de geste
Medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature.
Medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature.
This distinguished them from romances concerned with the Matter of Britain, that is, King Arthur and his knights; and with the so-called Matter of Rome, covering the Trojan War, the conquests of Alexander the Great, the life of Julius Cæsar and some of his Imperial successors, who were given medieval makeovers as exemplars of chivalry.
Benoît de Sainte-Maure
12th-century French poet, most probably from Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine near Tours, France.
12th-century French poet, most probably from Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine near Tours, France.
His 40,000 line poem Le Roman de Troie ("The Romance of Troy"), written between 1155 and 1160, was a medieval retelling on the epic theme of the Trojan War which inspired a body of literature in the genre called the roman antique, loosely assembled by the poet Jean Bodel as the Matter of Rome.
Matter of Britain
Body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur.
Body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur.
It was one of the three great Western story cycles recalled repeatedly in medieval literature, together with the Matter of France, which concerned the legends of Charlemagne, and the Matter of Rome, which included material derived from or inspired by classical mythology.
Jean Bodel
Jean Bodel (c.
Jean Bodel (c.
the "Matter of Rome", or retellings of stories from classical antiquity
List of literary cycles
Group of stories focused on common figures, often based on mythical figures or loosely on historical ones.
Group of stories focused on common figures, often based on mythical figures or loosely on historical ones.
The Matter of Rome (or the "cycle of Rome"), which centers on Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great
Troilus and Criseyde
Epic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war during the siege of Troy.
Epic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war during the siege of Troy.
It is part of the Matter of Rome cycle, a fact which Chaucer emphasizes.
Old French
The language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries.
The language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries.
At the beginning of the 13th century, Jean Bodel, in his Chanson de Saisnes, divided medieval French narrative literature into three subject areas: the Matter of France or Matter of Charlemagne; the Matter of Rome (romances in an ancient setting); and the Matter of Britain (Arthurian romances and Breton lais).