The Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte- Maure: A Translation. Translated by Glyn S. Burgess, Douglas Kelly. Woodbridge, UK, and Rochester, NY: D. S. Brewer, 2017. Gallica, 41. 486 pp.

In his Roman de Brut (1155), the Norman Robert Wace of Caen recounts the founding of Britain by Brutus of Troy to the end of legendary British history, while adapting freely the History of the Kings of Britain (1136) by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Wace’s Brut inaugurated a new genre, at least in part, commonly known as the “romances of antiquity” (romans d'antiquité). The Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure, dating to around 1165, is, along with the Roman de Thèbes and the Roman d’Énéas, one of the three such romances dealing with themes from antiquity. These creations initiated the subjects, plots and structures of the genre, which subsequently flowered under authors such as Chrétien de Troyes. As an account of the Trojan War, Benoît’s version of necessity deals with war and its causes, how it was fought and what its ultimate consequences were for the combatants. How to explain its success? The author chose the standard and successful poetic form of the era—octosyllabic rhyming couplets; he was fond of extended descriptions; he could easily recount the intensity of personal struggles; and, above all he was fascinated by the trials and tribulations of love, a passion that affects several prominent warriors (among them Paris and his love for Helen, and Troilus and his affection for Briseida). All these elements combined to contour this romance in which events from the High Middle Ages were presented as a likeness of the poet’s own feudal and courtly spheres. This long-awaited new translation, the first into English, is accompanied by an extensive introduction and six-page outline of the work; two appendices (on common words, and a list of known Troie manuscripts); nearly twenty pages of bibliography; plus exhaustive indices of personal and geographical names and notes. As the two senior scholars assert (p. 3), By translating Benoît’s entire poem we seek to contribute to a greater appreciation of its composition and subject-matter, and thus to make available to a modern audience what medieval readers and audiences knew and appreciated.

Tradición clásica y ciclo bretón en las órdenes de caballería

La leyenda del rey Arturo sirvió como apoyo propagandístico para legitimar a los monarcas normandos en el trono inglés. La dinastía Plantagenet incrementó esa utilización política a través de la Historia regum Britanniae (1138), escrita en latín por Geoffrey de Monmouth y traducida al francés por Robert Wace con el título de Roman de Brut (h. 1160). En esta traducción aparece la Tabla Redonda, que fue un elemento primordial en la inspiración del espíritu elitista de las órdenes de caballería tardomedievales europeas. La Orden de la Banda Real de Castilla desarrolló las normas de comportamiento caballeresco en la paz y en la guerra; la Orden de la Jarretera se inspiró en el modelo artúrico del Ciclo Bretón, aunque despojado de elementos paganos, y la Orden del Toisón de oro buscó a sus patronos en el Ciclo Troyano y en la Biblia.