Geoffrey Gaimar

The L'Estoire des Engleis opens with a brief mention of King Arthur, whose actions affect the plot of the interpolated tale of Havelok the Dane. That aside, most of the first 3,500 lines are translations out of a variant text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and subsequent portions from other (Latin and French) sources that remain unidentified.{{Cite book |last=Keller |first=Hans-Erich |title=Medieval France: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1995 |isbn=0-8240-4444-4 |editor-last=Kibler |editor-first=William W. |location=Manchester |page=388 |chapter=Geffrei Gaimar |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQoKeohhNkMC&pg=PA741}}

Gaimar claims to have also written a version of the Brut story, a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) into Anglo-Norman verse, which was commissioned by Constance, wife of Ralph FitzGilbert, a Lincolnshire landowner. Constance appears to have been implicated in the writing process.{{Cite journal |last=Berat |first=Emma |date=2010 |title=The Patron and her Clerk: Multilingualism and Cultural Transition |journal=New Medieval Literatures |volume=12 |page=33 |doi=10.1484/J.NML.1.102175}} Gaimar's translation, if it existed, antedated Wace's Norman Roman de Brut (c. 1155), but no copy of Gaimar's Brut (also known as L'Estoire des Bretuns) has survived, being superseded by the latecomer.{{Cite book |last=Ritson |first=Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pg5MAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR88 |title=Ancient Engleish Metrical Romanceës |publisher=Nicol |year=1802 |volume=1 |page=lxxxviii |author-link=Joseph Ritson}}Ritson notes: "poet anterior to Wace, etc." Ian Short argues that Gaimar's Estoire des Bretuns was no more than a short epitome of the pre-Arthurian section of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, which might explain why Wace's later, full translation of the text became more popular and ultimately superseded Gaimer's.Short, Ian R. "What was Gaimar's Estoire des Bretuns?", in: Cultura Neolatina 71, 2011, pp. 143–145.

Gaimar did not create two separate and distinct chronicles, and the two estoires were merely the former and latter sections of a long-running history starting from the Argonauts' quest for the Golden Fleece to the reign of William II "Rufus" (died 1100) that Gaimar set out to write. Gaimar's scheme was greatly expanded in scope from the translation work on Geoffrey of Monmouth, the former part, which the patron had requested. Ironically, it was solely the latter part covering the Anglo-Saxon period that was transmitted by later copyists, as a continuation to Wace. The scribe of one such copy, in a late 13th-century manuscript (B.L. Royal 13 A xx i), dubbed the portion with the title Estoire des Engles. The so-called "lost L'Estoire des Bretuns" (History of the Britons) was an expedient term coined by 19th-century commentators."Lestorie des Bretons" as spelt in: {{Cite book |last=Israel |title=Hamlet in Iceland |publisher=David Nutt |year=1898 |location=London |page=lx |author-link=Israel Gollancz}}

A version of Havelok the Dane occurs at the beginning of L'Estoire des Engles, which must have originally been interpolated in between the history of the Britons and the history of the English, serving as a bridge. Unlike the Middle English version of the legend, Gaimar's version connects Havelok to King Arthur (making him responsible for destroying the Danish kingdom that Havelok would inherit.vv.409-422, {{Harvnb |Hardy |Martin |1889 |p=13}})There is also an Anglo-Norman lai version, but that is thought to be later and derived from Gaimar.{{Cite book |last=Fahnestock |url=https://archive.org/details/astudysourcesan00gaimgoog |title=A study of the sources and composition of the old French Lai d'Haveloc |publisher=The Marion Press |year=1915 |location=Jamaica, New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/astudysourcesan00gaimgoog/page/n129 121] |author-link=Edith}} Additionally there is a mention of a sword, Caliburv. 46, {{Harvnb |Hardy |Martin |1889 |p=2}} (Excalibur), pointing to Gaimar's knowledge of Galfridian legendary history that predated the advent of Wace's Brut.

• British literature
• Anglo-Norman literature

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Texts and translations

• {{Cite book |title=L'Estoire des Engleis by Geffrei Gaimar |publisher=B. Blackwell |year=1960 |editor-last=Bell |editor-first=Alexander |series=Anglo-Norman Texts |volume=14–16 |location=Oxford}}
• {{Cite book |title=Le lai d'Haveloc and Gaimar's Haveloc episode |publisher=University Press |year=1925 |editor-last=Bell |editor-first=Alexander |location=Manchester}}
• {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lestoriedesengl00gaimgoog |section=Le lai d'Haveloc and Gaimar's Haveloc episode |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |year=1889 |translator-last=Hardy |translator-first=Thomas Duffus |translator-link=Thomas Duffus Hardy |title=Rerum Britannicarum medii ævi scriptores or Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages |volume=II |location=London |translator-last2=Martin |translator-first2=Charles Trice |issue=91 |ref={{sfnref|Hardy|Martin|1889}}}}{{clarify|reason=the section= title does not appear in the linked source; perhaps 'The Lay of Haveloc and the Dane' pp. 216 et seq.?|date=December 2023}}. Archived from the original [https://books.google.com/books?id=7lc4AQAAMAAJ Vol. I Text] [https://books.google.com/books?id=SPcKAAAAYAAJ Vol. II Translation] on 7 August 2007.
• {{Cite book |title=Geffrei Gaimar Estoire Des Engleis History of the English |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |editor-last=Short |editor-first=Ian}}
• {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJkKAAAAYAAJ |title=The Anglo-Norman metrical chronicle of Geoffrey Gaimar |publisher=Printed for the members of the Caxton Society |year=1850 |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=Thomas |editor-link=Thomas Wright (antiquarian) |location=London}}

Studies

• Bratu, Cristian, "Translatio, autorité et affirmation de soi chez Gaimar, Wace et Benoît de Sainte-Maure." The Medieval Chronicle 8 (2013), pp. 135–164.
• Harper-Bill, Christopher & van Houts, Elisabeth (eds.), A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World, Boydell, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-84383-341-3}}.
• Legge, Mary D., Anglo-Norman Literature and its Background, Oxford University Press, 1963.
• Short, Ian R., "What was Gaimar's Estoire des Bretuns?", in: Cultura Neolatina 71, 2011, pp. 143–145.

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Category:Anglo-Norman literature

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