Tradition et originalité dans les ‘Croniques et conquestes de Charlemaine’ de David Aubert by Valérie Guyen-Croquez (review)

This single-volume study of David Aubert’s Croniques et conquestes de Charlemaine by Valérie Guyen-Croquez is a version cut down from her three-volume thesis, presented at the Université de Lorraine in 2008. The only serious problems with the current work stem from the amount of abridgement and revision that this has necessitated. There is a repeated tendency to present conclusions in the form of undoubtedly tenable assertions, but with little or no data supporting arguments. To find such details the reader is regularly referred to the thesis, which is available online at the Université de Lorraine website. However, to find it, one must know that it is registered under ‘Croquez’, with the title ‘Croniques et conquestes de Charlemaine: tradition et originalité’, and not as it is cited by the author, who nonetheless does use forms present on the title page of the thesis. Unfortunately, also, some random spot-checks have not always found the material referred to. Editing down the thesis has caused other problems, too. We find the rather vague cross reference, ‘[s]uit alors l’anaphore en “La ne fu [ . . . ]” étudiée un peu plus haut’ (p. 229); this study does not appear in the present volume. Similarly, Guyen-Croquez invites the reader (p. 325) to compare two passages narrating miraculous messages sent to Charlemagne, but only one passage is quoted. With these caveats, Guyen-Croquez provides a complete study of the ways in which Aubert handles his sources, and offers a thorough examination of the structure and of the literary and linguistic features of the Croniques et conquestes. She begins by considering Aubert the man in his historical context at the Court of Burgundy, then gives a résumé of the whole work, analyses some key episodes, including the Battle of Roncevaux and the war against the Saxons (derived ultimately from La Chanson des Saisnes), relating Aubert’s version to his sources. Part Three of the book, corresponding to Part Two of the thesis, begins by relating chapter headings from the manuscript table of contents to the rubrics beginning each chapter, highlighting discrepancies. On the linguistic side, Guyen-Croquez studies archaisms and neologisms in Aubert’s usage. This section is not without problems: celle (demonstrative adjective), jadis (adverb and adjective), and taster (verb = ‘fondle’) are all declared to be archaisms in the fifteenth century, but they are not. The study as a whole aims to be exhaustive, demonstrating the balance between the two elements of Aubert’s title: the work’s claims to be a chronicle and ‘epic’, the implication for Guyen-Croquez of conquestes. Balance is indeed the watchword: many sections conclude with the affirmation that Aubert is faithful to tradition and shows originality, and that his abridgements and ways of compiling his sources balance monotony and clarity — for instance ‘David Aubert joue [ . . . ] sur la tradition et l’originalité’ and ‘[s]a prose un peu monocorde a le mérite de la clarté’ (p. 237). The book also includes an extensive bibliography and a table of proverbs and proverbial sayings included in Aubert’s book.