In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • La Chanson de Walther: 'Waltharii poesis'
  • Allan Hood
La Chanson de Walther: 'Waltharii poesis'. Ed. and trans, by Sophie Albert, Silvère Menegaldo, and Francine Mora. (Moyen Âge européen). Grenoble: ELLUG, 2008. 165 pp. Pb €20.00.

This is a very useful edition of the medieval Latin epic Waltharius, which recounts the escape from Pannonia of Walter of Aquitaine and his Burgundian betrothed Hiltgund, hostages held by Attila, king of the Huns. They take with them a treasure of gold bracelets, and Walter is eventually cornered in a defile in the Vosges, where he defeats in a series of single combats a dozen assailants, amid gory mutilation. The final scene is strewn with the severed foot of the Frankish king Gunther, Walter's hand, and the eye of his friend Hagen: 'c'est ainsi, ainsi qu'ils se sont partagé les bracelets des Avars!' (l. 1404, p. 139). The editors provide not only Latin text and facing French translation but also selective annotation, an informative index of proper names, a comprehensive bibliography up to 2006, and a judicious introduction of over thirty pages. The Latin text is essentially that of Strecker in his Monumenta Germaniae Historica edition (1951); textual discussion is minimal. The fluent prose translation, the first into French for over a century, holds closely to the Latin without becoming stilted. Mora's introduction places, as far as is possible, the tale and the poem in historical context and outlines the poet's by no means straightforward exploitation of Latin epic predecessors: not only Virgil and Statius, but also Prudentius, whose Psychomachia informs the prominent theme of avarice. She gives a measured assessment of the humour with which literary allusion is deployed, characterizing it as 'ludique' rather than as single-mindedly satirical or mock-heroic; tonal variety is emphasized. One misses a treatment of the poem's metrical technique and language, and particularly of Germanisms and crosslinguistic punning, although there are instructive notes on individual lexical points. Mora does review the much-debated problems of authorship, date, and provenance. In the Prologue, transmitted in one group of manuscripts, a certain Geraldus dedicates Waltharius to Erckambaldus. Mora regards Geraldus as a copyist rather than the author, and finds plausible the identification of the dedicatee with an Erckambaldus who was bishop of Strasbourg from 965 to 991. She is sceptical of the old hypothesis, still supported by some German scholars, that links Waltharius with the monastery of St Gallen; she tends, rather, towards the view that the poem was composed at court by an anonymous cleric in the middle of the ninth century. New arguments are not adduced, but the clear, balanced summary guides the reader into the controversies. There are already other versions of Waltharius, including those into lively English verse by Dennis M. Kratz (1984) and Brian Murdoch (1989) —though listed in the present bibliography (p. 153), A. K. Bate's helpful if occasionally quirky edition (University of Reading, 1978) lacks a translation. However, this well-produced edition now offers far more. It gives ready access, with up-to-date ancillary material, to a poem which antedates the visible evidence of comparable vernacular epics and which testifies to a subtle, witty blending of Germanic heroic subject matter with classical and Christian Latin epic in late Carolingian Frankland. [End Page 82]

Allan Hood
University of Edinburgh

For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

...

pdf

Share