Adenes Le Roi (also Adenez or Adenet; literally, 'Little Adam the King") was born in
Brabant around 1240 and owed his education to the kindness of
Henry III, Duke of Brabant.[1]
In 1269 he entered the service of
Guy de Dampierre, afterwards
count of Flanders, probably as roi des ménestrels, and followed him in the next year on the abortive crusade in
Tunis in which
Louis IX lost his life. The expedition returned by way of
Sicily and
Italy, and Adenet has left in his poems some very exact descriptions of the places through which he passed. The purity of his French and the absence of provincialisms point to a long residence in France, and it has been suggested that Adenet may have followed
Mary of Brabant there on her marriage with
Philip III of France. He seems, however, to have remained in the service of
Count Guy, although he made frequent visits to Paris to consult the annals preserved in the
Abbey of St. Denis.[2] Adenet probably died before the end of the 13th century.[2]A document attests a gift to him in 1297 of a golden buckle from King Edward I, and that is the last information available about Adenet.[3]
Enfances Ogier narrates the exploits of
Ogier the Dane fighting the Saracens in Italy, and was an enfeebled version of the Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche written earlier by
Raimbert de Paris.[4]
Bueves de Comarchis belongs to the cycle of romance gathered around the history of
Aimeri de Narbonne.
roman d'aventures, Cléomadès, is long and borrows from
Spanish and
Moorish traditions brought into France by
Blanche, daughter of Louis IX, who after the death of her Spanish husband returned to the French court.
The most recent and accepted editions are those by Albert Henry, Les œuvres d'Adenet le Roi. Tome II: Buevon de Conmarchis, Bruges, De Tempel (Rijsuniversiteit te Gent. Werken uitgegeven door de Faculteit van de Wijsbegeerte en letteren, 115e aflevering), 1956 [repr.: Geneva, Slatkine, 1996]; Tome III: Les enfances Ogier, Bruges, De Tempel (Rijsuniversiteit te Gent. Werken uitgegeven door de Faculteit van de Wijsbegeerte en letteren, 121e aflevering), 1956 [repr.: Geneva, Slatkine, 1996]; Tome IV: Berte aus grans piés, Bruxelles, Presses universitaires de Bruxelles; Paris, Presses universitaires de France (Université livre de Bruxelles. Travaux de la Faculté de philosophie et lettres, 23), 1963 [repr.: Geneva, Slatkine, 1996]; Tome V: Cleomadès, Bruxelles, Presses universitaires de Bruxelles; Paris, Presses universitaires de France (Université livre de Bruxelles. Travaux de la Faculté de philosophie et lettres, 46), 1971 [repr.: Geneva, Slatkine, 1996], 2 vols.
Albert Henry, Les œuvres d'Adenet le roi. Tome 1: Biographie d'Adenet. La tradition manuscrite, Bruges, De Tempel, 1951.
Notes
^He was also known as Adenet Le Roi, Adenez, Adans Le Roi, Roi Adam, Li Rois Adenes, Adan le Menestrel or Adam Rex Menestrallus
Ward, Harry Leigh Douglas (1883).
"Harley 4404 ff.102–251b (Enfances Ogier)". Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum. Vol. 1. British Museum. pp. 610–615.