A New History of Medieval French Literature

Chronology

135 chronology 778 Battle of Roncevaux. Death of Roland. 800 Charlemagne crowned emperor. 842 Two of Charlemagne’s grandsons, Louis the German and Charles the Bald, unite against the third, Lothaire. First attested use in writing of the French and Germanic vernaculars in the Oaths of Strasbourg. End of the ninth century Séquence de sainte Eulalie (29 lines), the first known conserved poem in the French language. c. 950–1000 Passion by Clermont. Vie de saint Léger 987 Accession of Hugh Capet 1040–1105 Life of Rashi (Solomon, son of Isaac). He founds a talmudic school in Troyes [now in ChampagneArdenne ] that is famous throughout the Occident c. 1050 Vie de saint Alexis. Between 1060 and 1080 Chanson de sainte Foy. 1066 Conquest of England by William, duke of Normandy. The Battle of Hastings is celebrated in the embroidery known as the Bayeux Tapestry (precise date unknown). 1095 Council of Clermont. Preaching of the First Crusade. 136 Chronology 1099 Jerusalem falls to the Crusaders. c. 1100 The Song of Roland. 1101 Foundation of the abbey of Fontevrault by Robert of Arbrissel. Birth of Héloïse. 1115 The future Saint Bernard, then aged 25, founds the abbey of Clairvaux , where he will die in 1153. 1118 Foundation of the order of the Temple (Knights Templar). 1127 Death of William IX, duke of Aquitaine, the “first” troubadour. Between 1130 and 1148 Marcabru composes poems. c. 1132 Construction of the Basilica of Saint-Denis begun. 1137 Marriage of Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine. c. 1140–1170 The troubadours Bernard de Ventadour, Pierre d’Auvergne, and Raimbaud d’Orange active. 1142 Abélard dies. Between 1146 and 1174 Le Jeu d’Adam. c. 1147 Beginning of Bernard de Ventadour’s work. 1151 Death of Suger, counselor to Louis VII. 1152 Dissolution of Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine’s marriage. Eleanor marries Henry Plantagenet. Pierre Lombard, master of the cathedral school of Paris, writes the Four Books of Sentences. Chronology 137 c. 1152–1154 Le Roman de Thèbes 1154 Henry Plantagenet becomes king of England as Henry II. c. 1154–1156 Le Roman d’Enéas. 1160 Marie de France, Les Lais. 1163–1182 Construction of Notre-Dame de Paris. c. 1165 Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Le Roman de Troie (The Romance of Troy). Between 1165 and 1200 Béroul, Tristan et Iseult. 1170 Assassination of Thomas Beckett, archbishop of Canterbury, in his cathedral , prompted by King Henry II. Between 1172 and 1174 Guernes (Garnier) of Pont-SainteMaxence writes his Vie de saint Thomas Beckett. c. 1175 First branches of the Roman de Renart. c. 1180–1200 Trouvères: Le Châtelain de Coucy, Gace Brulé, and Conon de Béthune. 1180 Accession of Philip Augustus. c. 1181 Chrétien de Troyes, Le Conte du Graal. c. 1185 Andreas Capellanus, De amore. 1187 Saladin takes Jerusalem. c. 1195 Death of Bernard de Ventadour. 1195 Lothar of Segni, the future Pope Innocent III, writes his De contemptu mundi, or De miseria humanae conditionis, a text conserved in more than six hundred manuscripts. 138 Chronology 1199 Death of Richard the Lionheart. John Lackland becomes king of England. c. 1200 Jean Bodel, Jeu de saint Nicolas. 1201 Birth of Theobald of Champagne, grandson of Marie of Champagne, the patroness of Chrétien de Troyes. 1203 Constantinople falls to the Fourth Crusade. 1208–1244 Crusade against the Albigensians ordered by Pope Innocent III to suppress the Cathar heresy. c. 1210 Geoffroy de Villehardouin and Robert de Clari write De la Conqu ête de Constantinople. 1210 Death of Jean Bodel. 1214 Battle of Bouvines. Philip Augustus defeats the coalition raised against him by John Lackland. 1215 Simon de Montfort, the leader of the Albigensian crusade, becomes count of Toulouse. The Fourth Lateran Council, convoked by Pope Innocent III, ordains annual confession of all adult Christians. c. 1220–1230 Gautier de Coincy, Miracles de Notre Dame, Lancelot en prose. Jean Renart, Guillaume de Dole. c. 1225 Guillaume de Lorris, Le Roman de la Rose. 1225–1230 La Queste del Saint Graal. 1226 Accession of Louis IX, the future Saint Louis. Regency of Blanche of Castile. Chronology 139 c. 1238 Death of Pérotin, master of the Notre Dame school of polyphony, in Paris. 1245–1248 Construction of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. 1248–1254 Saint Louis leads the Seventh Crusade...