HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

LEGENDARY HISTORY: HISTORIA AND FABULA 411of the formulaic expression “Si com en l’istoire trovum” cannot disguisethe chronicler’s reticence to divulge their identities. For Benoît,the function of the historian is, above all, to offer to his readers andlisteners a resolutely chronological narrative comprising maint buenesample. From this perspective, the study of history with its buen enseignemenzserves to improve still further the already upstanding and honestcomportment of the courtly man, 78 thus distinguishing him evenmore clearly from the vilain. It is no surprise, therefore, to find inthe poem an excursus on the Three Orders (I, 13,239–13,400) as wellas some encyclopedia-like digressions categorized by Benoît as doctrinee cognicion (I, 2,132). He cites Isidore of Seville, Pliny, and St.Augustine as authorities. These traits seem to betray a desire onBenoît’s part to write a universal history, but the overall purpose ofhis work still remains unclear. As Jean Blacker has pointed out, itis even difficult to determine what the notion of estoire meant toBenoît. Was it to do with ‘writing history’ in the literal sense? Or,rather, perhaps about ‘telling a story’ to amuse or educate his listeners,and to support the Plantagenet dynasty? Whatever the case,Benoît’s poem remains a hybrid mix of historical intention andfictional subject matter. 79 However, is it not the case that most entriesfor ‘history’ in modern French dictionaries still propagate confusionin this sphere by offering their users definitions such as ‘an accountof real or imaginary acts and events’? 80The Advent of ProseAlthough the chanson de geste had offered its readers a rudimentaryform of historical discourse and was to remain—throughout theMiddle Ages and well beyond—a hugely popular form of literaryentertainment, the soaring popularity of the historical roman may bea symptom of increasing impatience with the epic form on the partof a noble audience impatient for more and more history. The chansonde geste was no longer valid as a historical form. 81 We have also78Blacker (1994), 47 et passim.79Blacker (1994), 52.80Blacker (1994), 207–08 and n. 88.81Cf. Spiegel (1987).