DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3825#0080
FRANCE. 73
tate, tarn dictaminis quam cantus, tuum in ore om-
nium nomen tenebant. Frequenti carmine tuam in
ore omnium Heloisam ponebas. Me plateae omnes,
me domus singula resonabant." And St. Bernard
himself is recorded to have composed " cantiunculas
mimicas et urbanos modulos;" but the great doubt is,
whether (as Ravalliere thinks) all these songs were not
written in Latin. There is, perhaps, less doubt about
the "vulgares cantus" mentioned in the ' Gesta Dei'
as being lampoons upon Arnulphus, Patriarch of Je-
rusalem under Godfrey de Bouillon ; but it is not safe
to rely on an earlier epoch for the popular use of the
French language, at any rate in lyric poetry, than
that which we have pointed out.
When, however, we point to the reign of Philip
Augustus (1180—1223), or that of his predecessor,
as the true commencement of the age of early
French poetry, we must not connect its progress
otherwise than chronologically with the courts of those
monarchs. In the early literature of France, the court
of Paris had little or no share: it belonged almost
entirely to Normandy and England. The Northern
Romance was nursed to its maturity by the fostering
patronage of the Anglo-Norman princes, and with
them continued its riper cultivation. The language
was, however, long in an extremely unsettled state :
even at the end of the 12th century we find it in
some pieces approaching very nearly to the Proven-
tate, tarn dictaminis quam cantus, tuum in ore om-
nium nomen tenebant. Frequenti carmine tuam in
ore omnium Heloisam ponebas. Me plateae omnes,
me domus singula resonabant." And St. Bernard
himself is recorded to have composed " cantiunculas
mimicas et urbanos modulos;" but the great doubt is,
whether (as Ravalliere thinks) all these songs were not
written in Latin. There is, perhaps, less doubt about
the "vulgares cantus" mentioned in the ' Gesta Dei'
as being lampoons upon Arnulphus, Patriarch of Je-
rusalem under Godfrey de Bouillon ; but it is not safe
to rely on an earlier epoch for the popular use of the
French language, at any rate in lyric poetry, than
that which we have pointed out.
When, however, we point to the reign of Philip
Augustus (1180—1223), or that of his predecessor,
as the true commencement of the age of early
French poetry, we must not connect its progress
otherwise than chronologically with the courts of those
monarchs. In the early literature of France, the court
of Paris had little or no share: it belonged almost
entirely to Normandy and England. The Northern
Romance was nursed to its maturity by the fostering
patronage of the Anglo-Norman princes, and with
them continued its riper cultivation. The language
was, however, long in an extremely unsettled state :
even at the end of the 12th century we find it in
some pieces approaching very nearly to the Proven-